Saturday, August 13, 2022

Letting Go of Personal Self's Reflection

 At some point there is no more struggle, just the deep peace that comes with surrendering to a perfection that is beyond your comprehension.

Michael Singer

When will I finally get it...I mean, really get it to the point that understanding is my reality.  When will I just know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Life is not attacking "me" nor is it there to "support and please 'me'"?  When will I truly see that there is nothing personal anywhere but in my mind?  

Michael Singer tells us, in a paraphrased version, that what is going on has nothing to do with us.  There is just this ebb and flow of experiences going through Life.  If we want to get to know Life, we do not look into the lake and see ourselves, we simply stop, observe and feel her pulse. 

I have come so far on this journey, have gained remarkable insight and have tapped into some amazing wisdom ( that which we all possess inside us) and still I get all tangled up and caught in the dramas of what I have come to see as "my life". I got caught up in my circumstances again...still saying "my" lol.  I got caught up in the circumstances and experiences that were unfolding around me.  They were just circumstances and events that really had nothing to do with "me"...even if  some of them are unfolding in my body or impacting some of 'my roles' as parent and partner. It isn't personal. Yet I look at this which is unfolding and I don't see Life...the clear and spacious lake...I see myself.  And I am disturbed by it.  Why?  Because I judge that which is perfect as "bad, wrong, shouldn't be!" .  To what is it 'bad, wrong shouldn't be'? To my personal self, to this thing I call "me".  It is this self that judges what it sees and becomes disturbed by it.  It is not Life disturbing it. Hmm! I need to surrender.

...the practice of surrender is actually done in two very distinct steps.  First, you let go of the personal reactions of like or dislike that form inside your mind and heart; and second, with the resultant sense of clarity, you simply look to see what is being asked of you by the situation enfolding in front of you. 

Michael Singer

In essence, what the great spiritual step involves is dying to our self.  As Jesus put it, "Truly, truly I say to you.  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit." John 12:24 ESV.  I see this as meaning unless we let go and become one with "the earth", everything and everyone, with Life,  we will be suffering "little mes" but once we let go of personal self and die...we will be reborn and will bear the fruit of peace, love and truth. We gain the wisdom needed to do what Life is calling us to do in each moment. We need to let go of our personal, preferring self for the universal Self.

Everything there is, everything there ever was and everything there will ever be...is God. ..Life is God made visible...Look into the Lake of Life and see God [not your own puny reflection].

Michael Singer

I was so lost in my own reflection over the last few weeks I was consumed by a sense of suffering. In that "personal" suffering  I forgot this truth but listening to Michael Singer today reminded me of it. It brought me back to the non personal nature of Self and Life again.  And our practice is all about coming back, is it not? Again and again and again. 

All is well in "my" Lake

Michael Singer/ Sounds True ( n.d.) Look Into the Lake of Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G1zvgJvm7Y

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