He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear."
Mark 4: 21-23 NIV
This lovely parable from Jesus epitomizes my new mission in this life I call "mine". My practice taking me to my polestar ( again using those pronouns lightly) is to expose the buried ( hidden and concealed) roots of suffering. They, to me (this is not in that passage from Mark), are like a thick layer of dirt, dust and grime over the light that shines inside...a light we all have within us. They diminish the light to the point of darkness sometimes. So, many of us, like me, increase that darkness by taking our dirty lanterns and hiding them under a bowl or under the bed (away from our conscious awareness). In order to allow our inner lights of consciousness to shine brightly , we need to clean off the samskara dust...but we can not do that until we take our lanterns out and put them on the stand, until we expose them in their imperfect dust collecting forms. We can see the dust and then wipe it off. We let go of the hiding; we let go of the layers of suffering we have been clinging to for whatever reason and we allow that little light within to grow. I then share that light with whoever will hear it.
I am here to grow; I am here to let go.
I am going to borrow this often used mantra that Michael A. Singer shared in the below podcast. I am going to try to create a meditation around it. I need to keep reminding myself that is why I am here!
Singer explains how we can use this mantra: when we sit down in our car, before we pick up the phone, right before we go through a door, when we go to work on whatever it is we are doing and most importantly when we are triggered...when we find ourselves bothered ( or with more practice ...right before we get bothered). Hmm! He said our commitment to our practice of letting go of little me with all its bothersome tendencies ( not in those words exactly) is the most important thing.
Hmm! I try to remind myself on a daily basis that my whole Life is one big practice of removing the layers on top of who I really am. Well that sounded very proactive and action oriented when it is more of an allowing and letting go of when the time comes.
I am committed today to let go of whatever it is that comes up, disturbing me, as a reminder that it, and the "me" that gets disturbed, needs to leave...so the light of who I really am can grow and shine for the world to see.
He also says that this daily practice is like we are buying moments of consciousness...until we are established in the Seat of Self. And he goes on to say that a great being doesn't get taught these things, it experiences them.
I want to make anything that takes me closer to being awake the most important purchase in my life. I don't just want to be taught...I want to experience. What about you?
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe (April 27, 2023) The Practice of Being Conscious. https://tou.org/talks/
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