Getting Through the Clouds to Peace

The clouds that gather round the setting sun

Do take a sober colouring from an eye

That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; - William Wordsworth: 536 Ode, Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood   In this beautiful poem by Wordsworth, an aging speaker looks about the natural world in awe and envy seeing so much power and beauty in the landscape.  Observation of nature  brings him to alert stillness and presence.  He also sees his human mortality in it and is reminded that he will be leaving this natural world soon.   The poem may seem like a depressing one but it ultimately is a poem of inspiration for life and for connection to who we really are.

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home: Wordsworth 536 Ode

Are we trailing Clouds of Glory?

Note: so sorry about these big blocks of off-colour that are distracting to the eye.  I will sometimes download passages onto a Microsoft page before putting them here in a cut and paste.  I bring the white background with me when I do that and attempt to change it with the closest to the page colour I can find.  (I guess that is somewhat appropriate in our recent discussions about foregrounds and backgrounds :))

I was drawn to this poem by a reminder  from Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey  in Day 16 of Manifesting through Grace that we came from trailing clouds of glory. The image of clouds came to my mind, reminding me that though the clouds may be in front of us and we may not be able to use our limited human vision to see beyond them, the sun is still there shining brilliantly upon the world and upon us. Wordsworth describes nature's knowing of this brilliantly.

We in human form, are limited and mortal but who we really are...like all things in nature are trailing clouds of glory that come from God. The true Self, we are reminded by Chopra and many eastern teachings, has no limits or boundaries. Though the world around us darkens our perceptions and leads us to believe we need to suffer... there remains a presence in the background that knows differently. Though we feel trapped and confined by these bodies, these personalities, these physical world limitations and our minds...we are free.

Getting Through the Clouds

We need to look at the clouds (our challenging life circumstances, our ego dominated personalities, our mental reactivity, our illnesses and our limitations) simply as the foreground of our life....not our Life.  Sure sometimes it all seems like a heavy cloud cover that prevents us from seeing or feeling the warmth of the sun behind it.

We can get lost and forget that its there...but that sun is still there, never going away, always available to us. The sun is the still, silent presence in the background of our Life.

Alienating from the Little Self

Who we think we are, is not who we really are.  Eckhart Tolle in Facing Challenges-The Transmission of Stillness, reminds us that we as 'persons' are just superficial movements of a much deeper and greater consciousness.  This person that uses "I", "me", and "mine"......is an ego dominated and fear based personality that may act as a dark cloud cover over who we truly are.

'Presence', the  trusting, fearless stillness exists beyond that cloud cover.  It is that presence that we come from, that presence whom we are and that presence we will return to when our bodies cease to be. We sometimes just forget that and get lost in doing, seeking, striving, competing, defending and attacking just to make sense of this reality (unreality) that exists on this side of the cloud cover.

As Wordsworth describes, nature is so present, so alive, so expansive but we as humans too often do not recognize that expansiveness in our selves. Our minds can hold us back from connecting to it.

Wanting Peace More than Anything Else

Tolle tells us that if we want to connect to presence we must be willing to give up the cloud cover, the false selves we identify with.  He calls this process of awakening  'self-alienation'.  In order to get there we need to put down our limiting fear based egos and choose instead peace.  We need to want peace more than anything else this limited 'person' in this physical world can provide.

ACIM in Lesson 185: I want the peace of God  teaches:

To say these words is nothing. To mean these words is everything.  If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time. (ACIM:W-185:1: 1-3)

To reach presence and find the peace of God that transcends all clouds, all suffering will require a willingness to let go of who you think you are.

To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams. (ACIM:W-185:5:1)

That presence is already in us...that peace of God is within us. Our suffering can end; clouds can part when we truly, truly want peace.
Who can remain unsatisfied who asks for what he  has already? (ACIM:W-185:11:3)

We just need to ask and really want what we are asking for.  We need a powerful determination to be present.

Breaking Through


"The chicken cannot come out of the shell without it first cracking" (Tolle, 2019)

We do not need to wait until we die to emerge from the limiting shells ego provides. .  We can make that determined commitment to break through those shells, those cloud covers, those limiting perceptions for the sake of peace now.  As soon as we meaningfully commit, the clouds will part so the sun can come through.

Sometimes, Life will step in and help us out with the process by removing a lot of the "me," and "mine" things from us.  Suffering and loss can be a great catalyst for change.  It may lead us to cry out, "crack already!!!"

Once we get fed up with our person-hood, we may finally commit to wanting peace and presence more than anything else. It is only then that we will be able to finally  transcend the  clouds of our existence for the sun.

God, stillness, presence, truth, love and awareness are waiting for us now.

Our noisy years seem moments in the being

Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake,

To perish never:

Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour,

Nor Man nor Boy,

Nor all that is at enmity with joy,

Can utterly abolish or destroy!     -William Wordsworth 536 Ode

All is well in my world.

References

ACIM (2007) Workbook: Lesson 185. Foundations for Inner Peace

Deepak Chopra & Oprah Winfrey. (n.d.) Manifesting Grace through Gratitude. Chopra Center

Eckhart Tolle (2019) Facing Challenges-The Transmission of Stillness. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn-TfVr5h_U

William Wordsworth (n.d.) Ode 536: Intimations of  Immortality....Retrieved from https://www.bartleby.com/101/536.html

Of Basic Importance

There are many different philosophies, but what is of basic importance is compassion, love for others, concern for others' suffering, and reduction of selfishness.
-Dalai Lama

If you help others with sincere motivation and sincere concern, that will bring you more fortune, more friends, more smiles, and more success.  If you forget about others' rights and neglect others' welfare, ultimately you will be very lonely.
Dalai Lama

Success from the Inside First

Inner success is the inner experience of love, happiness, inner fulfillment and well-being -the experience of joy in your everyday life.
-Michael Neill


Unsuccessful?

I have been thinking about success lately and how some of us on the outside may appear unsuccessful.  We may be viewed as unsuccessful because of   our inability to make a certain income and live a certain life style; unsuccessful in our ability to gain and maintain a certain recognition or social status; unsuccessful because of unfruitful attempts to achieve some external reward like fame or notoriety for our dreams, gifts or talents; unsuccessful in our ability to gain /maintain certain titles and the right careers that go with those titles; unsuccessful in our ability to own things;  unsuccessful in our ability to raise kids and provide for them in the way society deems we should; unsuccessful in our ability to maintain relationships or a level of reputability that others approve of; unsuccessful in our ability to maintain a certain level of health or physical appearance that society deems is necessary for success and unsuccessful in our ability to be as good as or better than everyone else.  

My Lack of Success

I may be deemed unsuccessful in all or many of these categories. I presently have no income and the life style I once knew is no more. I am really not recognized at this point  if I ever was and my social status ...well let's just say no one out there on social media will be jealous of me, nor will they be  trying to compete lol. My dreams to be a successfully published  writer with a certain readership have yet to reach fruition.  I have had to give up the titles I earned and the careers associated with them despite the numerous years of education, training and experience put into them. I don't own much material stuff. I own little and lost lots.People might look at what is going in my family and judge my parenting as being the cause for it, therefore viewing me as an unsuccessful parent.  I have pulled away from most forms of relating in an attempt to heal and my "like" status (or lack of)  would likely  indicate a problem with me. Others may  see me as unsuccessful in both my physical and mental health, I am sure. And the aging process is definitely  pushing me away from the spectrum of physical desirability. In social terms I am probably deemed as being "less than" most.

Success is an Inside Job

Hmm!  How do I view all this lack of success in my life? My ego doesn't like it.  It is red-faced and almost apologetic to others for not keeping up.  It cowers and cringes  in the corner, not wanting to be seen. It believes I am not successful because  it still measures success by externals.

I, however, (I meaning this being that I am discovering beneath the ego) is okay with it, for it  has never measured success by what I was able to grab or cling to from the external world. To it, success was always an internal thing.

I find true success through inner fulfillment.Deepak Chopra/Oprah Winfrey...Day 13 of meditation series

So when I don't listen to "little me" or the egos of others, I know I am successful or at least I know what type of success I really want and need in my life...a success that does not wax wane as the worldly things do. I am getting more and more successful the more I wake up to what is really important.  What is really important is purely internal. It is what Grace, not ego provides and Grace is always providing.

What is the  difference between what Grace provides in terms of success and what ego provides?

Deepak Chopra tells us that we can tell the difference between ego's success and Grace's by how we feel.  If we find ourselves wanting more , grabbing and clinging in triumph to something we have achieved or received than that is ego success.  It will not last...we will eventually want more and more and more.  this type of success  won't fulfill us.

If on the other hand we feel satisfied, grateful and warm inside...it is likely Grace that has  provided our success. We will feel fulfilled.

Does that mean we shouldn't accept the external world gifts that come to us?

No.  By all means accept them, embrace them, rejoice in them.  Just don't anticipate that they will fill you up...they won't. These are just forms that we play with. ...delightful, pleasing and fun but not permanent.


They are also signs that something is going well on the inside.

All that happens on the surface is an unfolding of that which is always there beneath the surface, waiting to be expressed. (Deepak Chopra)

 When we respond to Life with Gratitude, Life responds to us with gratitude.  We reap the bounty, so to speak. That type of success comes when we feel successful on the inside and we can get there through gratitude. Be grateful first for what you have...truly grateful before seeking more. Seek the inner experience of love, happiness and fulfillment and  then you will fin Grace happily greeting you. When you experience Grace at her best (with the joy of simply being!) you will believe you are worthy of the Grace within you.  When you believe that, your life will open up to you.

I am obviously, still working on the believing part lol...but it is coming.  I am patient. I want my success to come from the inside first.

All is well

References

Deepak Chopra & Oprah Winfrey (2018) Day 13 Manifesting Grace through Gratitude.

More on the Tao te Ching

Their work was done and their undertakings were successful, while the
people all said, 'We are as we are, of ourselves!'

-Lao Tzu

 

 

My understanding of  James Legge's translation of Chapter/Verse 17-24 of the Tao Te Ching

 

 

17

 

Faith in rulers will wax and wane but the best rulers are the quiet ones who leave the people believing they accomplished what needed to be accomplished themselves.

---

18

 

Without observance of the Tao people became self-righteous and sought their own terms of goodness to follow leading to hypocrisy. Society, in terms of family and politics, may put on unnatural airs and use knowledge rather than the natural intelligence if they do not let the Tao to guide them.

---

19

 

If leaders? put aside their specialness, their wisdom (external knowledge), their appearance of goodness and self-righteousness, their tricking and scheming for gain…it would make the people better, more compassionate and kind, and more honest.

---

20

 

Knowledge and wisdom is not necessarily  a good thing. Lao Tzu compares himself to the majority of “learned” men who seem to be loyal, willing, seeking to answer all questions, pleased with themselves for what they have attained or own, their ability to judge and discriminate, their plans for doing etc.  He states that in comparison he seems dull, confused, stupid, poor but what sets him apart is his value of the Tao. It makes him real.

---

21

All action comes from the Tao which cannot be seen or touched.  It is dark and obscure, eluding light, yet it is the profound eternal truth behind all creation (existing things).

---

22

 

Less (partial) is more. Those who have few desires will attain them…those with many will get lost.  Man sets himself a part when he ceases to strive. The true sage who honors the Tao shines because he is free from a need to be seen; distinguished because he is free from a need to assert self; acknowledged because he is free from the need to boast; superior because he is free from the need to be more than.

---

23

 

It is important to have faith. If even the harshest things in nature (strong winds and heavy rains) cannot last all day how can man expect to have his own energy last forever without faith?  Silence without speech shows that he is obeying the ebb and flow of his own nature like the Tao. If one agrees with the man who is seeking the Tao they too will seek it.  If one agrees with the man who is happily manifesting the Tao, they too will manifest it happily.  But if one agrees with the man who fails to seek or manifest the Tao he too will lack faith.

---

24

Those who truly follow the Tao stand firmly without self display, assertion of  own views, boasting or self-conceit.

 

 

All is well in my world

The Grace-Myself-might not obtain

Confer upon My flower-

Refracted but a countenance-

For I- inhabit Her-

-Emily Dickinson

 

Is Illness Real?

We are not victims of aging, sickness and death.  These are parts of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. The seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.
-Deepak Chopra ( Brainy Quote)

Over the last few weeks I have not been feeling physically well and I once again began to question this idea, that sickness is just an illusion.  It doesn't feel like much of an illusion yet the idea that it may be, wracks me with guilt.  Why am I experiencing illness that is limiting my life  if it isn't real?  What is wrong with me? Am I delusional or looking for secondary gains? Isn't what others see and say more important than what I feel?

The emotional component and the story associated with my experience of illness s is  often much worse than the actual physical symptoms. I do what others tend to do in such situations.  I seek validation...an answer that makes my story real.

Looking for the Validation of Story

In an attempt to understand what the body is doing we often seek a label, a name and some form of validation, do we not? 

I have spent many unsuccessful and shame inducing years attempting to get one solid diagnosis from medicine for what was going on in my heart (and the hearts and vessels of family members).  I or "it" was questionable in the eyes of others. So I collected past evidence to verify the plot.  That didn't seem to matter in changing the opinion of others, no matter how I relayed it. Past, then,  was insignificant in the 'naming' of this story.

I couldn't project the validity of my story into my future either  without a label. (With no diagnosis, there is no prognosis) .  I therefore couldn't build any story around it that I could identify with. My future story would remain a script unwritten.

I am actually grateful it turned out the way it did.  Because I did not succeed, I had to seek alternative means of coping with my perceived experience. This led me away from my psychological dependence on labelling, other validation, and story building that often comes with the experience of not feeling 100%. 

It actually led me back to the now and to  experiencing the body, mind and soul in each moment. I have come to see it all as a story that isn't significant or even all that real

So illness isn't real?

No 'illness' isn't real.  "Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Disease" are not real. "Arthritis, Colitis and sciatica" are not real.  "Illness" isn't real.

Say what??? I can see what is happening in my body...it is real.

Your symptoms  are real.  You feel what you feel. 

The signs may be real. Maybe you or others see, hear, smell, taste, or feel what is going on in your body that validate it is no longer in balance. That part is real.

The reality of the illness is only what you experience in the moment (Tolle)

Right now your glucometer may be  showing you that your  blood sugar is sky high or you are experiencing the wooziness of a low blood sugar because you forgot to eat after you took your insulin. That is real.

Right now you may be feeling a mass  somewhere on your flesh as you and your physician view some big dark spot on a Radiology report.  That is real. 

Right now you may be experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath as the ECG attached to you shows changes.  That too  is real.

Yes signs and symptoms can be real.  Your body is subject to the wears and tears of Life just as your mind is.  It will occasionally breakdown, mutate and disintegrate like all things of the physical world have the tendency to do.  Those changes in the body can be observed by the body (yours and/or someone else's).  What your body is experiencing right here in this moment is indeed  real.....

However, the 'diagnosis' and the determination of ' illness' isn't real.

Why "Illness" isn't real.

Illness isn't real because it is just a mental concept that exists in past and future. It is just a word that does not have the capability (as no one word does)  to adequately explain 'experience'. Illness is just a label. It is not the experience that is being labelled.

When we present with our so called body imbalances, signs and symptoms get grouped together by well meaning professionals. By using some diagnostic manual, a name is often given to them. That name then determines the course of treatment and the prognosis. Individual experience is not a part of that.

The name is what we tend to get hung up on.  The name is what we build our stories around using past memory and experience...and future  expectations. We go from experiencing the individual body...to playing out a script in our heads created by a collective thought.

These diagnosis' are just mental concepts...words and images attached to a series of signs and symptoms experienced by a body.  They are  pointing fingers pointing to a physical body which simply houses who we really are. We don't seem to look past the finger.


What we do with these mental concepts that really make us sick.

With the mental constructs we create an image that explains  our symptomology and that provides some relief to ego's need to know. Unfortunately, it also takes us from experiencing our moment.

We get hung up on past and future. We use the use past experiences of others to create a mental story in our mind of what that word "means". We identify with past (why I got this and what happened to others who had this), future (what will happen to me) and the so called 'disease' becomes our Life story.  It becomes a story in our minds that we too often live out, a story passed on by the collective and documented experiences of others who also  seen it as a story about them.

Cancer, for example, is only a word...yet it has the potential to cause great fear and grief in us.  It already has a pervasive story built around it. It is that  story built around the the word we fear. not the individual experience of cancer moment to moment.

We never want to see someone plopping that word above our group of symptoms or the symptoms of someone we love, do we?  If that word is used in anyway to describe us we automatically build more  story around it, don't we?  We go directly to our heads and  back to our memory banks to recall others who had that label placed on them.  We believe the story; we become the story!!!

We are told by well meaning professionals who use past survival statistics to determine our prognosis what our chances are. We believe them.  We believe the story our mind is telling us.  We get lost in past and future. And we truly believe we are going to suffer  and spend all our life energy unsuccessfully  'fighting death' because of one word. The real tragedy isn't the experience of so-called  cancer here but our reaction to a word, a label, a name.

Victims of words

We make  past stories associated with a mere word, our story. We identify with those stories and live in past and future.  Instead of seeing and experiencing the symptoms as they occur in each moment, we identify with the label.  We become it. "I am a diabetic.  I am a cancer survivor or a chemo patient.  I am a cardiac patient."  We become the illness and therefor the victim of a 'word'.

What we fail to accept is that diagnosis'  are just words and maps made by the collective professional mind. They cannot be who we are.  We just 'believe' they are.

How do we get beyond the limiting belief in Illness.

We can start by realizing who we are. I mean...who we really are.  Catch yourself referring to an illness label  using "I am".  Remind yourself you are not an illness.  You are not the body.  These things are just scenery. You are so much more.  You are the seer. You are the awareness that watches the blood sugar or the ST waves fluctuate on the machines.   You are not the label, the disease, the bodily changes. Who you are is beyond a mere concept of disease...it is 'nameless, eternal and unchanging.' (The Tao)

Drop the label.  We do not have to identify with the disease we are labelled with do we?  By all means treat it in the ways you see fit but don't become it. If you feel you need to address it, instead of saying, "I am diabetic", simply focus on the symptoms.  " I have high blood sugar according to this machine so I take insulin."

Don't personalize it. Watch those pronouns: "My" and "Mine".  This group of symptoms does not belong to you.  It isn't something the universe is doing to you.  It is just a breeze that is blowing through you just as a different type of breeze may blow through someone else.

Don't build story around your experience. Be aware of that tendency of the mind to remove us from our 'experience' and take us into story. It wants you to see yourself as a victim or a hero to your disease. It wants the drama and the ownership of it.  Try to recognize when it is becoming a story...when you are building a past and future around it, constantly talking about your condition to yourself or others, seeking specialness,  or staying stuck in your mind.  Gently bring yourself back to the present experience.

Experience the now.  The only reality to illness is what you experience in this moment, right here , right now. Be willing to accept and allow this moment no matter what it offers in terms of physical experiences. Put down the past and future concepts and live in the now. Instead of focusing on your past and the past of others who had similar signs or symptoms, bring awareness back to the present moment.  What are you experiencing now? Are you having pain now?  Experience it. (of course...treat it if it is interfering with your Life experience) but experience it. Even if you agree to  having  a label like arthritis stuck to you for treatment purposes ...it doesn't mean you have to experience pain all the time.  That is just a belief.  Symptoms may come and go.  What happened in the past may not be happening now and just because it is happening now, doesn't mean it will continue into the future.  As a nurse, I have seen the consequence of 'anticipated pain' in patients...the fear of it prevented them from enjoying their pain free moments. So stay in the present. There is no other Life but right here, right now.

Determine what your body might be trying to tell you. There is no doubt in my mind that the physical body reacts to what is going on in the mind.  Therefore I believe all so called disease is in some form or another...psychosomatic.  I know what I am experiencing is psychosomatic.  I am finally okay with that.  We need to be okay with that so we can get back to what the bodily symptoms are really trying to tell us.  There is an important message in that physical experience.  It is trying to tell you there is something in your 'thinking', your 'believing' and your 'perceiving' that needs to be looked at. We may need some  mental health professional or alternative practitioner like an energy healer to help us with that one.

Be Grateful.  That's a hard one, eh?  How can we be grateful for feeling so rotten or for witnessing how our lives are effected by these symptoms?  Remind yourself that Life knows what it is doing.  Everything that seems to 'happen' to us is for a reason we may not be able to understand at this point...but we will eventually.  It will all make sense someday. 

In the meantime be grateful for how you are being led to something greater...that something that lay beyond the body and mind.  So called 'Illness" can actually  be a portal to awakening.

How cool is that?

All is well!

References

Legge, James. (1891)  Translation of the Tao Te Ching. Retrieved from https://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/taote.htm

Tolle, Eckhart. (March, 2019) Eckhart Talks Real Versus Perceived Limitations. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Qtgduxqxg

Poetry is Grace

I found this from a way back and felt compelled to share it as I meditate and write of Grace. 

I have so many poems tucked away.  I really do need to do up a chap book, even if I publish it myself...not for the ego or any guise of having 'talent' but for what the words teach. Lessons just flow through me when I write poetry...things I am not even aware I am thinking about come from this part of me that isn't me.  It is a lovely mysterious process that I am grateful for.  Poetry itself is Grace.

Grace

 

I set the table with a clean linen cloth,

its corners crisp and ready.

The china reserved for special occasions

is laid  down in an inviting fashion

with the bowls big and deep,

waiting to be filled up.

 

Crystal stem ware twinkles in the candlelight,

casting beautiful speckles of light over

the polished silver.

In the center,

I place a vase of perfect roses,

smiling, happy hosts,

content to be exactly what they are. 

 

I sit myself down at the table I set for her

and I wait for Grace to arrive.

I am ready.

 

 

 

The First Course

 

In she comes,

a vision of angelic loveliness,

effortlessly carrying

the first course of understanding.

Her gowns billow behind her

as she moves forward

in fluid strides.

The past that once clung to her hem

slips off easily

and disappears into nothingness

as she sets down the first course

in the now .

 

I call my brother to me

to join in this festive meal Grace provides.

Together we bow our heads and give thanks

before scooping out big heaps of the learning

laid before us.

 

The Second Course

 

In Grace comes again ...

the future she wore around her neck

vanishes into thin air

and the clocks behind us become quiet and still. 

She lovingly

serves the second course of acceptance.

Leaning forward so we can smell her

sweet perfume,

she offers  motherly instruction on

 the proper use of fork and napkin.

 

I find myself calling out

to the others hovering in the shadows,

hungry for what is being offered.

 

 

They gather at the table with us.

 

She fills all our glasses with

the very thing we thirsted for.

 

 The Third Course

 

Again Grace arrives,

her perfect face

smiling down on all of us

as she places the piece De la resistance

in front of us.

We consume it ravenously,

sharing every morsel with one another.

The more the other eats,

the more our hunger goes away.

"Love"...

she calls her special dish...

"Love."

It fills us so much

 we do not have room for dessert.

 

She smiles at us then,

removes her apron from her waist

and sits at this table,

laughing and talking

teaching and listening.

The candle light flickers

back and forth,

hopelessly competing with

the light that comes from her

forgiving presence.

 

It is a lovely meal.

 

I do not want it to end.

 

Hearing my unspoken words,

Grace whispers to me

over the twinkling crystal

in this timeless moment,

"It doesn't have to."

 

I smile and settle into the eternalness of now.

 

-Dale-Lyn 2012

 

My awareness is aligned with the creative power of the universe.
-Deepak Chopra/Oprah Winfrey (Manifesting Grace through Gratitude)

It is through gratitude for the Present Moment that the spiritual dimension of Life opens up.
-Eckhart Tolle

Mind Fanatic

 I am such a mind fanatic.  I am so, so intrigued by the human mind and I always have been. It just fascinates me to delve into its three layers and to see the how's and whys of human behaviour there. I see the mind as the cause of human suffering and I also see understanding it as the solution.

The power of core beliefs has been amongst one of the many things I have tried to understand. I honestly believe our thoughts and beliefs  are fundamental producers of the Life we are experiencing...both the inner and the outer.


Greater- Self Fanatic

I am also  fascinated by the deeper dimensions of the so called 'self'...which to me is a Self that goes way beyond the limitations of "I", "me", and "mine", that goes way beyond mental concepts and individuality.

So I read whatever I can, I study scripture both western and eastern.  I read the works of  great philosophers, poets, writers, scientists, psychologists/psychiatrists, and teachers that have walked the planet.  I try to figure it all out on my own as well...to determine what feels right etc.  I observe and I watch humans, including myself.  I meditate and go deeper to ask the big questions. I pray. I teach to learn.

Life Student

I am a life long student of the mind and that which lay as a background to the mind.

It is all so amazing to me.  Even if I never get the answers I seek...the process of asking is so exciting for some reason. And the more I  ask, the more I think I learn.  With the more I think I learn, comes the realization ...the less I actually know and therefore the more I ask. It seems to be a big beautiful cycle that never ends but throughout it all, the more peaceful I become...the more accepting and grateful I am for what is.

I keep my mind open.  I study different things, different modalities both the allopathic and alternative kinds. I listen to different teachers regardless of how they may appear to mainstream society...I pay more attention to the message and how it resonates inside me than I do to them as messengers.

I believe the individual needs to heal so the world heals. I look into healing therapies. So I have been looking into Theta Healing like I looked into other things  and what intrigues me about it is not the miracles its teachers purport to be able to create in a human's experience...not the mystical magical stuff  of transcending through layers of the universe and layers of light to the Creator (though I am not discounting it) ...but the way it seeks to dismantle those core beliefs that impair a human being's ability to live Life fully. That, I believe, is where we have to go to make this world a better place. ...to the mind of the individual, to the collective mind of all.

That collective mind I believe is in the spiritual dimension...the place where we realize once and for all that we are not separate little entities but something much greater...much more unified. It is there we experience the background of Life experience rather than being lost in the foreground of it. It is there where true awareness exists. It is there where we realize there is actually nothing to heal.

Hmmm!

All is well in my world.

References


Tolle, E. (2017) Talk to Your Thoughts. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yrRHaE_7d4

Limiting Beliefs; Obstacles to Grace

It is through gratitude for the Present Moment that the spiritual dimension of Life opens up.
-Eckhart Tolle

Mind Fanatic

 I am such a mind fanatic.  I am so, so intrigued by the human mind and I always have been. It just fascinates me to delve into its three layers and to see the how's and whys of human behaviour there. I see the mind as the cause of human suffering and I also see understanding it as the solution.

The power of core beliefs has been amongst one of the many things I have tried to understand. I honestly believe our thoughts and beliefs  are fundamental producers of the Life we are experiencing...both the inner and the outer.


Greater- Self Fanatic

I am also  fascinated by the deeper dimensions of the so called 'self'...which to me is a Self that goes way beyond the limitations of "I", "me", and "mine", that goes way beyond mental concepts and individuality.

So I read whatever I can, I study scripture both western and eastern.  I read the works of  great philosophers, poets, writers, scientists, psychologists/psychiatrists, and teachers that have walked the planet.  I try to figure it all out on my own as well...to determine what feels right etc.  I observe and I watch humans, including myself.  I meditate and go deeper to ask the big questions. I pray. I teach to learn.

Life Student

I am a life long student of the mind and that which lay as a background to the mind.

It is all so amazing to me.  Even if I never get the answers I seek...the process of asking is so exciting for some reason. And the more I  ask, the more I think I learn.  With the more I think I learn, comes the realization ...the less I actually know and therefore the more I ask. It seems to be a big beautiful cycle that never ends but throughout it all, the more peaceful I become...the more accepting and grateful I am for what is.

I keep my mind open.  I study different things, different modalities both the allopathic and alternative kinds. I listen to different teachers regardless of how they may appear to mainstream society...I pay more attention to the message and how it resonates inside me than I do to them as messengers.

I believe the individual needs to heal so the world heals. I look into healing therapies. So I have been looking into Theta Healing like I looked into other things  and what intrigues me about it is not the miracles its teachers purport to be able to create in a human's experience...not the mystical magical stuff  of transcending through layers of the universe and layers of light to the Creator (though I am not discounting it) ...but the way it seeks to dismantle those core beliefs that impair a human being's ability to live Life fully. That, I believe, is where we have to go to make this world a better place. ...to the mind of the individual, to the collective mind of all.

That collective mind I believe is in the spiritual dimension...the place where we realize once and for all that we are not separate little entities but something much greater...much more unified. It is there we experience the background of Life experience rather than being lost in the foreground of it. It is there where true awareness exists. It is there where we realize there is actually nothing to heal.

Hmmm!

All is well in my world.

References


Tolle, E. (2017) Talk to Your Thoughts. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yrRHaE_7d4

Making Waves to Tap Into Grace

Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.
-William Hazlitt


This soul can be made harmonious by tapping into our theta waves.  How do we do that? Through  good old meditation.

A Little on Brain Waves


There are four types of brain waves picked up by modern scientific analysis using equipment such as EEG's and MRI's. These waves are (from fastest to slowest):  Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta
.
Beta waves are those brain waves induced when we are aroused.  They are most active and the fastest occurring at about 15-45 cycles per second. They also have the shortest amplitudes.  The more alert the brain is, the quicker these waves will run.  When we are stressed, as most of  us are, spending much of our time in our monkey minds, we will have lots of Beta waves on our EEGs.

Alpha waves are slower that Beta waves and have a higher amplitude.  Occurring at 9-14 cycles per second, they occur when we are alert, awake but calm.  We would likely see these waves after we completed a complicated mental task and sat down to reflect on it.  If we were to have our brains measured just as we were sitting to meditate, we would also likely see Alpha waves in the slower range.

Theta Waves are the good guys we want to induce in order to tap into grace.  We can get there through meditation ...and some modalities like Theta Healing  purport to  take us directly to "divine grace". These waves are slower than Alpha waves but do not necessarily induce sleep.  We are still awake but very, very relaxed.  They occur at about 5-8 cycles per second. We tend to dip into the subconscious in this state.

Then there is Delta waves which occur with sleep.  They are obviously the slowest waves and have the highest amplitude, occurring anywhere from 1.5-4 cycles per second. We slip into the semi-unconsciousness here.

Waves then  are slowest when we are calm. The amplitude  is also higher in these  slow waves.  So the more relaxed we are the better the mind actually works and the  easier it is to tap into the subconscious mind. We do not want to have our brain waves so slow and high that we fall asleep or go into a coma but we would like to tap into those waves that occur when body and mind are relaxed if we wish to enhance our spirituality.

Another Brain Wave Recently Discovered

There has also been another brain wave discovered in a Buddhist Monk during meditation while he was focusing on attention and compassion.  Gamma waves were recorded on Mathieu Richard during meditation experimentation at  NYU.  This was the first time such a wave was recorded in a human mind opening the door to the mystery of what meditation can provide. 

Ideally...it would be great for all of us to reach that state where we would be sure to tap into the true Self and the Ultimate Grace.  Unfortunately, it may take years of practice to achieve the ability to do so. Theta waves then are the default choice for tapping into our soul/true Self/ higher consciousness/ purusa. They are in a sense our doorway to Grace.

Theta Healing

One way of tapping into these waves and experiencing divine Grace directly is said to be  by using a fairly new modality called Theta Healing. This method was devised by a woman named Vianna Stibel in the 1990's to cure herself from bone cancer. Practitioners are encouraged to visualize transcending from their earth bound energized bodies through the universe and into various layers of light to the white light realm where The Creator (and one is encouraged to use whatever terminology they are comfortable with to visualize the source of all creation) abides. It is believed this realm is the deepest subconscious where self limiting beliefs can be dispelled with the creator's intervention.

I have tried it and have done the associated muscle testing to determine my core beliefs and my success at changing them.  I cannot say, at this point, that it was effective or ineffective.  I am, however, intrigued to continue trying.

Tapping Into that Place of Peace

Whether it through theta healing imagery, plain old fashioned meditation or simply mindfulness...the goal is to tap into Grace which to me is synonymous with that place of peace I long to be in.  That is where we can find inward harmony of the soul. That place of peace is not out there, up there or anywhere but right here and right now.  It is the present moment that brings our awareness of our connection with the Source and that awareness is Grace. 
Every moment is filled with Grace.

Why?

Because, The present moment is my true Self.  Isn't the True Self...the Soul many of us refer to.  Is that not what we experience a connection with when we tap into those Theta waves?  Just saying, just wondering...hmmm?  I would really like to operate more frequently in a state of theta and maybe someday experience the  rare Gamma state others have experienced.

All is well in my world

References


Deepak Chopra & Oprah Winfrey ( n.d.) Gratitude is in the Present Moment from the Manifesting Grace through Gratitude Meditation Series.


Kitney, Anna (March, 2016 ) Theta Healing Meditations & Instant Healing's. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqjRwkWPn64

Newer, Rachael ( November, 2012) The Happiest Man is a Tibetan Monk. from Smart News.  Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-happiest-man-is-a-tibetan-monk-105980614/

Scientific American (n.d.)  What is the Function of the Various Brain Waves? Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-function-of-t-1997-12-22/

Sivananda Ashram yoga Retreat Bahamas (February 2018) Vianna Stibel: Divine Timing . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV3WeDfGNzU