Understanding Some Concepts

Essence identity = Self
Foundation= deep= built in rock=never changing=invulnerable
fear=future=product of conceptual mind
conceptual mind=foundation-less=built on sand= offers no security or happiness, just an illusion of it= veils
shadows behind veils= spirit, true Self, spiritual energy, "Holy Spirit", angels?
cellar= place to hide in a tornado or hurricane=safety=peace
darkness=eyes closed in meditation=away from light on the surface
being a  healthy human being= balance between darkness and light, spirit and physical being, deep and superficial levels
COVID 19= gentle wake up call for humanity to save itself from its own unconsciousness -induced destruction

These are the words , concepts and analytical connections floating around in my mind right now...that I feel compelled to share with you. Yes, they are in my conceptual mind but they were somehow put there by a deeper part of mind.

Say what crazy lady?

Do you ever wonder why you think certain things? Why you see certain things in amongst the myriad of things your eyes could pick out?  Why you remember certain details with the exclusion of all else, it seems? 

The Deeper Mind

I believe that sometimes a deeper part of our mind, the foundations (so to speak) of who we really are or that which is behind the veils of our conceptual understanding /illusions pushes through to our very limited human awareness to allow for certain thoughts, perceptions or experiences to "stick". I don't think it is merely coincidence ( well I see coincidence not as a random sequence of circumstances but the coinciding of deep consciousness with our awareness) but a purposeful act of consciousness. These pointers...and that is all words and concepts are...show us where to look for true "knowing".  This thing/no-thing beneath our surface identity, our veils of illusion, uses our conceptual mind, our physical reality, the human part of human being to teach us about the truth that lies beyond it.

My mind or the mind  ( however you view it)  had some help from Eckhart Tolle this morning too.  I sat at the table with my tea and I listened with my eyes closed to what was being said. I made  a promise to myself to not jot one word down until I was done my meditation. And when I was done I picked up a pen and a piece of paper. This is what came up.

Pointers to the Truth

These are not my words any more than I believe they are his words..  They are just very valuable pointers to a truth we all have access to,  a truth we merely need to remember. The truth was breathed into him and he breathed them out to the world with the words he used.  And being in an open receptive state of mind as this little form I identify as... the truth within those words  "stuck", only so that I could breathe that truth  out of me to someone else in the way I do!

It is not about Tolle and his mind or his physical form or his physical reality and the symbols he uses to express truth with.  It isn't about me and my conceptual mind, my form or   my physical reality or the symbols I may use...and it  isn't about you, your mind, your form or your physical reality or any symbols you may use or be receptive to.  It is about something so much deeper. It is about a truth that we are being guided towards.

If you are not allowing that deeper part of yourself  to slip  through the veil to reach you...if you do not  see the rock you are grounded into...if you are not open...you will not get one word I am saying here.  The concepts I am using and the manner I am expressing them in will not "hit home". You will definitely see me as crazier than a bag of hammers. And in that outer reality I would be. You would not see how crazy your own mind is...how crazy the minds of billions of people on this planet now are.  It is much more rational to see me as crazy and the few million (if that)  maybe who think like me as crazy.

So what is this crazy lady trying to share with this concepts? What truth lies in them?

This "essence identity", as Tolle describes it is the Self that Patanjali refers to, is the soul that many religions  refer to, is the "consciousness" that scientists are trying to understand and it is who you are.  Everything, everything necessary in understanding truth depends on you knowing who you really are.

Who you Really Are Beyond The Conceptual Mind

If you knew who you were...saw yourself as not mere flesh and bone, not mere thought and feeling, not merely "an in idea" ego has defined...you would see how deep your foundation goes, how you are changeless and invulnerable to the unpredictable changes that occur in the physical world.  There therefore would be no need to fear the future or what might happen.  In fact, there would be no future because future is only a product of the conceptual mind and rooted in Self means being here and now in the only time there is.

Most of us build our identity on the conceptual mind...on "an idea" and that is like building our homes in the sand.  Without the foundation of spirit, of stillness, of truth...you are at the mercy of  the elements of the outside world.  All you will be given, at best, is an "illusion" of happiness that waxes and wanes with the wind.  There will be no true peace or a sense of safety.

What Ego Wants

Ego ...this identification you have with conceptual mind...wants you building on the sand because it is the only way it can survive.  It can not survive in truth so it does not want you awakening. It doesn't want you going deeper. It puts up veils between its version of reality and the reality of spirit so you do not see who you really are.

But spirit will sometimes shine through the veils giving us glimpses of who we are.  At first these images  will be like shadows and we will not be able to make out the form and we may actually fear them...so we stay away from that veil. We call it "metaphysical", "supernatural", "Woo-woo" stuff , even "evil" or we call it crazy.

What Moves Us Toward The Veils

Yet, for some of us that energy reaches us and we are compelled to make our way towards the shadows on the other side of these veils.  Something/No-thing tells us that what is there is real. Even though we still doubt, we still fear, we still  think we are not being scientific enough, "religious" enough...we walk towards the shadows beyond the veil anyway.  It is more than idle curiosity but a compulsion for truth that leads us there.

This call we get is said to come from many different things.  The conceptual mind has to call it something.  It tends to personify so we can understand.  Some may call it simply "spirit". Others may call it "spiritual energy", or the "Self".  Some may feel they are being directed by the "Holy Spirit" or the "angels". And some who are more scientifically oriented may simply say they are trying to understand by proving or disproving what  "consciousness" is or isn't. I call it God. These names and terms  are all just pointers leading to the truth beyond the veils, all just roots of a greater foundation that take us deeper than what can be seen or perceived by the five senses.

Cellars in the Rock

This place they take us to, let's call it the "spiritual dimension" or the "formless reality" is home to us.  It is the only place where we will feel completely at peace, completely safe and completely happy. The physical world around these forms we are in is constantly going to change ( as are the forms we are in) .  We cannot control the unpredictability of Life.  We can only manipulate  it so much so it goes our way and doing that all the time is absolutely exhausting and crazy making.  We may find some temporary semblance of peace when things "out there" are going calmly and smoothly.  We may even feel temporarily and superficially "happy" for a while but it won't last.  Things "out there" will not always go smoothly no matter how you attempt to control them, resist them, avoid them or deny them.

When the storm comes...and it will come...be it a hurricane or tornado ( Life's adversity) if we are aware we have a deeper foundation , we can always retreat to the cellar built within the rock and we will be truly  safe there. We will find true happiness and peace there.  Going back to spirit in times of challenge can be our saving grace. 

We have to, first of all, realize that cellar is there, that foundation is there, that part of who we are is there...so we can access it.  We can find peace in faith.  We can practice building this faith in many ways including with prayer, meditation, mindfulness and present moment thinking.  We can practice being the "being" in the human being.


Balance

So we can close our eyes in meditation and go inward. We can stay in the safety of our spiritual practice, in our being but that doesn't mean we want to exclude the human part of our journeys as human beings.  We do not want to exclude the physical world all together.  We do not want to be stuck in the  foundation of spirituality and miss out on being human. 

We do want the beauty the world offers, do we not?   If we are in the basement we will not see it.  It is important that we create  balance between the human and the being aspect of our experience here.  We were breathed into form for a reason.  We do not hide out or away making spirituality our new comfort zone.To have balance ,we simply base who we are in that foundation.  Then we retreat when we need to in order to  build up our strength and we resurface, when we are ready,  taking that peace and strength of who we really into the world of doing.

A Gentle Reminder

This pandemic gives us an opportunity to spend time looking at what we have been doing and thinking.  We can definitely retreat into our foundations to gain the necessary strength and peace to deal with crisis.  We can also look at the crisis  from there. If we do, we will not see it as a violent storm beating against the walls of our physicality ...but as a gentle reminder for all of humanity to wake up from its unconsciousness. 

I stress the word "gentle" because this is a gentle reminder. This is not the bubonic plague, eboli, HIV or small pox...it is not even like other corona viruses like SARS. This is a gentle virus.

I believe nature is simply telling us in a gentle way that it can only let our unconsciousness do so much damage to her before she does what she needs to do to protect herself. It is a gentle nudge.  How we respond to tis nudge will make the difference. 

Maybe she wants us to retreat into our root cellars deep within the rock, to get beyond our veils and wake up a little bit.  Maybe she is nudging us  to come to terms with what we are doing before it is too late...not for her but for us. She might be asking us to  reconnect with  the truth that will save us all.

Hmmm!  That is a lot of stuff that came from one listening meditation, eh?   No wonder why they call me crazy! 

All is well.

Eckhart Tolle (March, 2020) Staying Conscious in the Face of Adversity