From :
Terry Grant
Sent :
Thursday, November 30, 2006 5:21 AM
To :
"K. Venugopal 11/29/06"
Subject :
Welcome To The Weekly Message List
Welcome to the Weekly Message List, sponsored by the Alaya community. In response to your request, you have been added to the List.
Each week you will be receiving an email message which I have written or transcribed. The messages are based on the experience of living at Alaya House under Ishvara's leadership. It is an experience of ongoing transformation, of letting go of attachment to beliefs and concepts, systems and structures, and discovering the unique expression of Life that each of us is, moment by moment. Most of the weekly messages are transcribed and edited portions of recent talks given by Ishvara.
The messages are usually sent by email on Saturday or Sunday of each week. If ever you do not receive a message for a particular week, please send me a message at tgrant@alaya.org, and I will try to correct the problem. However, be advised that our weekly message is sometimes mistaken for spam email by increasingly sensitive spam filters. Therefore, if you do not receive the weekly message, it may be necessary for you to contact your service provider to let the provider know that our message is not spam.
Ishvara uses his own terms, such as "feeling-knowing," to try to convey his unique awareness. These terms will often appear in the weekly messages. You can find explanations for these terms in the Alaya glossary at http://www.alaya.org/glossary.html
There is no fee for your membership on this List. However, a donation of $10 per month is suggested. You can make your tax-deductible donation to Alaya, which is a non-profit organization. You can send your donations by postal mail to Alaya at the following address:
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Thank you for your membership in this Message List. Your willingness to grow in awareness benefits the whole of Life.
- Terry Grant
Weekly Message, December 2, 2006
It Is Worth Everything
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
This is the conclusion of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on August 6, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
In this awareness, you recognize that it doesn't matter. What appears to be a loss doesn't matter. What appears to be a problem doesn't matter. You know the truth, the truth of Life, the truth of the universe: where you put your energy, where you put your mind, where you put your intellect, creates the direction your life takes. What you truly love, prospers, not in the manner of material expectations, but in the manner of energy, the Life Force, attracting more and more Life-Force energy for the enhancement of your existence. This helps the body to make the necessary leaps as it comes upon them; it provides the courage to face the unknown, the mystery, to actually embrace the mystery and love it.
The higher you go with this flame, the bigger the flame gets, and the fewer there are who submit themselves to the dissolution, the meltdown. The supreme sacrifice entails letting go of all that you perceive as necessary, all that you perceive as important. It really is echoed in one of the scriptures that speaks of "dying daily to the self." Without dying daily to the self you cannot live, because the self you are dying to is the illusion, the accumulation of problems, the conditioning. As that accumulation grows, it weighs you down to such a point that you can hardly breathe. That is the condition you die to, in order to live.
Love cannot survive unless you let go and allow. You can't control it. You allow it. It is such a paradox to the psychology of this world. It flies in the face of religions. In religions and spiritual disciplines, there is always a way, a system, a structure, things to do, the right things to know, the right words to say, the right practices. Yet these are always "about."
This awareness is not "about." This IS. You surrender the "abouts", and embrace the IS. Words cannot describe the awareness. The awareness can only be experienced. The Space* supports the experience of the awareness. I support the experience of the awareness, but it is up to you to do the work, to move the obstacles out of the way.
Maybe "work" isn't a good word for that, especially for many Americans who tend to shy away from "work." It is actually a cathartic process, a flame, a meltdown, a letting go. It is a surrender to the unknown. That is a profound surrender when you can't really conceive of what is in store. All words fail when you try to describe what's in store. You say: "Happiness," but what is that? "Joy," but what is that? "Fulfillment," but what is that? They are all concepts that are limited and conditional. They all seem to have the "un" attached to them somewhere along the way: happiness and unhappiness, fulfillment and unfulfillment.
The Space of this awareness, that comes from this awakening, has no "un's." It is not a concept, and is not conditional. It is an energy of allowing, presence, and being that is all consuming. When that becomes the desire of your being, when you desire that above all else, and you get to the place where you are so consumed by the flame of awareness that you are even willing to let go of that desire, you have arrived. You fall into the Is-ness of existence. You embrace Life through willingness, doing whatever is in front of you, but with the vision of eternity, a knowing of things to come, a feeling-knowing of possibilities that are about to materialize, as you embrace the Is-ness that is the moment.
Many hear, but few choose. Very few are willing to make the sacrifice, to embrace the flame. But those few are the ones who become the fire that ignites the world into expansion and awareness of the New Consciousness. They are the ones who sustain Life in a new way, as the New Species. They are the ones who recreate the world in the image of the New Consciousness, the highest awareness, the greatest of possibilities.
It is quite an endeavor when you think about it. It is worth everything, absolutely everything.
--------------------
* The Space is the presence of The New Consciousness, undistorted by beliefs, concepts, systems or structures. The Space is not confined to any location. It is everywhere. Yet the clarity of the Space is palpable in Ishvara's presence.
Copyright © 2006 by Alaya®.All rights reserved.Alaya® is a registered trademark and service mark.
If you forward this message, please include the copyright notice.
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Friday, December 8, 2006 4:09 AM
Thank you Venu. I appreciate hearing from you, and knowing that you found the message helpful. Love from Alaya. - Terry
Thank you Venu. I appreciate hearing from you, and knowing that you found the message helpful. Love from Alaya. - Terry
----- Original Message ----- Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 9:32 AM Subject:
RE: It Is Worth Everything
Respected Terry Grantji, This is the first message I've received since 'signing up'. I think I've understood it. It made good reading and brought about a silence just meditating on the words said. Love, Venu
Weekly Message, December 9, 2006
Need Is Natural
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
I have transcribed and edited the message below from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
When you allow yourself to be embraced by Life, by existence, you are participating in the web of Life, the all, the Is-ness. Recognizing that in each experience is important. As you see it, as you experience it, you gain a more expansive awareness, you gain clarity, you understand, and you participate. You begin to realize what Life is not: it is not the conditions, the beliefs, the concepts, or the programs; it is not the religions, the spiritual disciplines, the systems, or the structures. Those are all outside; they provide rules to be applied, in a kind of automatic fashion.
When you start realizing what Life truly is, you see that there is a rich and deep inner life, the real life, the life that you are. To begin to recognize that in your daily living, your daily experiences, in each moment, allows you to see that it is alright for you to be where you are, that you are more than the intellect believes, that there is more to this Life than what is seen on the surface. There is more to this Life than what you have been programmed with, conditioned with, or taught about. There is more to it.
Humanity, the earth, and all of existence, are constantly unfolding and becoming. Moment by moment, through experiences, there is an evolution taking place. Each particle of Life is evolving and becoming. To embrace that, you begin to understand, you begin to gain a certain clarity. It is about getting real with yourself and with Life around you.
In this web of Life, of existence, there is an interdependency. When you look at it, you can see that is true. Where would you be without the rest of Life? Where would you be without the minerals, the plants, the oxygen you breathe? Where would you be without life on earth fulfilling your needs? Where would you be?
There is interdependency within the whole of Life, in all of existence. Yet it is easy to lose sight of that. Life can be distracting at times, with many problems, much excitement, much fear. You tend to forget the connections that are so vital to existence.
When you think about it, you can recognize the interdependency of Life. However, the next step is to truly begin to cultivate a connection. A connection is an awareness of something that appears to be outside of yourself, something that appears to be different. A connection is a joining, a coming together, a bringing into proximity of something that seems to be "the other."
Of course, with the interdependency of Life, you know deep within that everything really is connected anyway. But it is easy to neglect that. It is natural to get caught up in your day-by-day existence, taking care of family, your job, your career, your living space. All these things demand a lot of time, putting a lot of pressure on you at times: pressure to perform, to create, to become efficient. You can lose sight of the greater purpose of Life, which is the direct experience of possibilities. It is easy to overlook that, to get caught up in making a living, having a relationship.
There is a basic belief in New Age and spiritual systems that you are somehow magically to transcend need, to not need anything, to be self-sufficient, to be complete and whole within yourself. That tends to create an atmosphere or a concept that there is something wrong with need. However, to go beyond that, you can realize that because of the interdependency of all of Life, of existence itself, there naturally is need. Need is natural.
You can personalize need, making it exclusive, something of your own, but that is not the point. The real point is to recognize that we all need Life, consequently we all need connections, connections with others, not just with humans, but with animals, plants, minerals. All are part of the web of Life, of this existence. All are in a process of evolution. All are evolving through each experience. Various hypotheses indicate that the universe was so structured and created that it was designed to bring forth humankind. Yet there are equally valid hypotheses which say the universe has evolved over time, as life has evolved, hand-in-hand, connected, interdependent. When you look at it that way, you realize that you and the universe are co-creating existence, co-creating intelligence, becoming more.
The beauty of this Life is there is no end to the possibilities. When you can get away from the conditioning of consensus reality and beliefs, including spiritual processes and religions, you begin to recognize that there is something far more important to the uniqueness that you are, to the uniqueness that is all of Life. To recognize that is a realization of great consequence.
(To be continued next week).
Monday, December 11, 2006 3:18 AM
Need Is Natural
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
I have transcribed and edited the message below from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
When you allow yourself to be embraced by Life, by existence, you are participating in the web of Life, the all, the Is-ness. Recognizing that in each experience is important. As you see it, as you experience it, you gain a more expansive awareness, you gain clarity, you understand, and you participate. You begin to realize what Life is not: it is not the conditions, the beliefs, the concepts, or the programs; it is not the religions, the spiritual disciplines, the systems, or the structures. Those are all outside; they provide rules to be applied, in a kind of automatic fashion.
When you start realizing what Life truly is, you see that there is a rich and deep inner life, the real life, the life that you are. To begin to recognize that in your daily living, your daily experiences, in each moment, allows you to see that it is alright for you to be where you are, that you are more than the intellect believes, that there is more to this Life than what is seen on the surface. There is more to this Life than what you have been programmed with, conditioned with, or taught about. There is more to it.
Humanity, the earth, and all of existence, are constantly unfolding and becoming. Moment by moment, through experiences, there is an evolution taking place. Each particle of Life is evolving and becoming. To embrace that, you begin to understand, you begin to gain a certain clarity. It is about getting real with yourself and with Life around you.
In this web of Life, of existence, there is an interdependency. When you look at it, you can see that is true. Where would you be without the rest of Life? Where would you be without the minerals, the plants, the oxygen you breathe? Where would you be without life on earth fulfilling your needs? Where would you be?
There is interdependency within the whole of Life, in all of existence. Yet it is easy to lose sight of that. Life can be distracting at times, with many problems, much excitement, much fear. You tend to forget the connections that are so vital to existence.
When you think about it, you can recognize the interdependency of Life. However, the next step is to truly begin to cultivate a connection. A connection is an awareness of something that appears to be outside of yourself, something that appears to be different. A connection is a joining, a coming together, a bringing into proximity of something that seems to be "the other."
Of course, with the interdependency of Life, you know deep within that everything really is connected anyway. But it is easy to neglect that. It is natural to get caught up in your day-by-day existence, taking care of family, your job, your career, your living space. All these things demand a lot of time, putting a lot of pressure on you at times: pressure to perform, to create, to become efficient. You can lose sight of the greater purpose of Life, which is the direct experience of possibilities. It is easy to overlook that, to get caught up in making a living, having a relationship.
There is a basic belief in New Age and spiritual systems that you are somehow magically to transcend need, to not need anything, to be self-sufficient, to be complete and whole within yourself. That tends to create an atmosphere or a concept that there is something wrong with need. However, to go beyond that, you can realize that because of the interdependency of all of Life, of existence itself, there naturally is need. Need is natural.
You can personalize need, making it exclusive, something of your own, but that is not the point. The real point is to recognize that we all need Life, consequently we all need connections, connections with others, not just with humans, but with animals, plants, minerals. All are part of the web of Life, of this existence. All are in a process of evolution. All are evolving through each experience. Various hypotheses indicate that the universe was so structured and created that it was designed to bring forth humankind. Yet there are equally valid hypotheses which say the universe has evolved over time, as life has evolved, hand-in-hand, connected, interdependent. When you look at it that way, you realize that you and the universe are co-creating existence, co-creating intelligence, becoming more.
The beauty of this Life is there is no end to the possibilities. When you can get away from the conditioning of consensus reality and beliefs, including spiritual processes and religions, you begin to recognize that there is something far more important to the uniqueness that you are, to the uniqueness that is all of Life. To recognize that is a realization of great consequence.
(To be continued next week).
Monday, December 11, 2006 3:18 AM
Thank you for your email message, Venu. Love from Alaya. - Terry
----- Original Message ----- From: "Venugopal Kaikulath"
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 4:14 AM Subject: RE: Need Is Natural
Dear Terry, I have read this, the second message of H.H. Ishvara I've got since joining. I would tend to disagree with one point - that it's natural to have needs. Needs are what we have all the time and thereby our great feeling of inadequacy. Is it possible to be in a situation of having no needs (except at the subsistence level, of course)? I think the whole spiritual pursuit is to come to a situation where we are free from needs. And this is achieved not by any doing, but by a simple awakening to the truth that we are perfect. I say this much as a comment in passing and not begin an argument or have a debate. As I keep reading Ishvara's newsletters and maybe offering my comments, I'm sure clarity would evolve. Love, Venu
Dear Terry, I have read this, the second message of H.H. Ishvara I've got since joining. I would tend to disagree with one point - that it's natural to have needs. Needs are what we have all the time and thereby our great feeling of inadequacy. Is it possible to be in a situation of having no needs (except at the subsistence level, of course)? I think the whole spiritual pursuit is to come to a situation where we are free from needs. And this is achieved not by any doing, but by a simple awakening to the truth that we are perfect. I say this much as a comment in passing and not begin an argument or have a debate. As I keep reading Ishvara's newsletters and maybe offering my comments, I'm sure clarity would evolve. Love, Venu
Weekly Message, December 16, 2006
You Are The Universe Discovering Itself
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
The following is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
There is so much that you seek in this world. You seek because you believe you do not have. You try to find something you believe is missing from your existence. When you fully come into realization that you ARE the universe, that you are intelligence, existence, Life itself, you cannot be lacking anything. That realization may cause you to imagine that you do not need anything. However, the more intelligence you attain and the more awareness you gain, the more you recognize that need is a natural, connecting link to all of Life. Plants need, animals need, and you need.
Without this web of Life, without the interdependency that underlies all of existence, connections would never be formed. You would go around oblivious to existence, and if you are oblivious to existence you are unconscious to experience, to learning, to gaining information, to creating a base of knowledge, and knowing. Without knowing, you do not understand the flow of Life. Without knowing, you do not understand existence itself. You remain in the dark.
Life is about establishing connections. You are interdependent with all of existence, but the body-mind system often fails to recognize that, because you seem to be skin-bound. You have apparent boundaries: "This is mine, and that's yours. I live here, you live there. I have this, you have that."
There is so much in human language that indicates mass superstition, mass separation, beliefs and concepts "about"; there is so much that really has nothing to do with your life. You believe things that have been handed to you from the human past. You believe the concepts, the conditioning, the programming, and the teachings, which have seeming importance to your survival. You think you need to know the conditional hand-me-downs in order to survive.
Yet in this human arena you begin to believe far too much. For what is believed is outside, conditional, and "about." It is void of direct experience, void of an actualization of what is possible. So many humans live in that kind of vacuum. You can walk around pretending, making believe, hoping, but never coming to actualization of the uniqueness that you are, never realizing that you are on purpose, that within you is a distinctive aspect of the universe, a uniqueness that wants to express, wants to experience, wants to connect. YOU are the universe discovering itself.
If you remain closed, if your heart is shut, if you are afraid, if you are trying to stay safe, erecting barriers around you, fearing that someone might see you as you really are, you are depriving the universe--Life itself--of a very rich, rewarding experience.
So much for spiritual agendas, beliefs and concepts that say, "We don't need anything because we are sufficient within ourselves." The truth is there is no "ourself." There is no self, there is no separate identity, there is no isolated, cut-off, bounded, bordered individual. The interdependency of Life assures that that is impossible.
You have to get over your beliefs about the outside. This means changing your perspective, looking at the world differently, understanding how you are participating in an unfolding evolution, realizing that you are designed to experience Life not by a designer but by Life, by existence itself. Existence learns from experience. It is like a feedback loop: what you experience contributes to the experience of the universe, what others experience contributes to your experience. It is interconnected.
If you are persistent in living in isolation and separation, bounded by consensus reality, conditions, beliefs and concepts, you are a participant in creating pain and suffering, and ultimately death. You actually die to get out of the experience of separation. You die to escape it.
So what about living? You live to connect. You can look out upon this world and see how much need there is for connection. You can look around you and see the core of the individual that knows this interdependency of the whole web of Life, of all existence, the core that longs to have the actualization, longs to be able to experience the connection, to experience Life firsthand.
The obstacles to this realization include fear: fear of being seen, fear of being recognized, countless fears that keep the human being enslaved. There is a certain apprehensiveness, or even outright fear, of being real. What if you are not liked? What if you are too different and are not accepted? What if . . . ?
Yet so what? A healthy dose of "so what" is vitally important to your existence. When you can respond with "so what" to an obstacle, it is diminished, it loses its power.
(To be continued next week).
Weekly Message, December 23, 2006.
Your Choice
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant.
The following is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
You are the experience of existence, the experience of Life, and to a large extent you are self-designed.
There is great power in this human experience. You get to decide how you want to be with things. You can decide from your programming, your conditions, your beliefs, your religions, your disciplines, and your structures, or you can decide from YOU, yourself, the core of your existence, that aspect of you that is beyond belief, even beyond comprehension. That aspect cannot be analyzed. It is too deep, too expansive. You can decide how you are going to be with things from that place.
When you are closed, you create an obstacle to that transcendent freedom. You have to be open to possibilities. Your heart, that center of awareness, needs to be receptive to the flow of Life. That's where humans run into trouble. You are afraid. You are afraid someone might take advantage of you, because people have taken advantage of you in the past. You are afraid that you might not be enough, because you believe you aren't.
You are afraid to be real, so you always have guarded experiences. You are afraid to display any kind of need, because that would indicate some weakness, some flaw in your existence. The thinking is: "You can't be needy! You can't need anyone!"
Where did such thinking come from? It is utter nonsense. You need Life. Life needs you. You need experiences. There would be no experiences without you. The universe would be void, empty, and desolate without you. The universe needs you as much as you need the universe. And part of your experience of the universe comes from those around you. You need the connections with each person in your field of experience, in your arena of existence--such as family, co-workers, and acquaintances. You need those people in your life, because that is the only way you are ever going to get to know the universe.
Systems and structures that advocate, "You don't need anything, because you are all-powerful, you have everything within yourself, you are self-contained," represent a denial, a loss of experience.
You need someone to love. You need someone to play with. You need someone to converse with. You need people to be in your life, at varying capacities. It doesn't matter what kind of relationship it is. Instead of "relationship," I like to call it "playship." In a playship, you are playing. Watch children at play. They play games, they have fun, they get mad at each other but five minutes later they are no longer mad. That is a playship.
In a true playship, there is no attachment. Playships encourage all kinds of experiences and behavior, all kinds of connections. Playships point to the interdependency of each particle of Life, each aspect of existence, each need.
In this awareness, you come to the conclusion that it is OK to need people in your life. It is OK to need experiences. Actually, it is demanded. Try to imagine a person who doesn't really need anything. The person doesn't need sleep, doesn't need food, doesn't need exercise because the person doesn't move, doesn't go anywhere, doesn't need entertainment. What kind of a person would that be? That would be a dead person.
Do you know anything that has no needs, other than something that is dead?
Your choice is to be dead or alive. I know, sometimes you may wish you were dead when you start to face what "being alive" entails. It can be frightening. When you begin to understand how you really have to be open and receptive to the flow of Life, it can be intimidating and scary, because always in the background there is the fear, "What if I'm not enough? What if I am unlikable? What if I am too ugly? What if . . . "
There are all these "What if's?" Somehow you have to transcend those thoughts, those beliefs, and begin to just accept Life as it is. My experience of Life has validated this truth: everything I need to experience comes to me, whether I want it or not. This is not magic. It happens because I am open. If I were closed, if I were demanding that, "It has to be THIS way," if I had a lot of criteria, judgments, attachments, or beliefs, it wouldn't work. But because of my openness to Life, Life comes to me through connections with everything. Everything I need to know, I have learned from Life, from direct experience. Everything I need to experience, I am experiencing. Experience is always teaching about the flow of energy, about how Life works.
I honor that need for connection. I honor that perception of "needing", even "wanting." Now, there is a little trick to needing and wanting. You can acknowledge your needs and your wants as long as you are not attached to them. When you become attached to needs or wants, that creates problems. So you remain unattached to them. You realize that to be open and receptive to the flow of Life, Life meets your needs and wants as they benefit existence itself. We call it "the highest good." If you become attached, the attachment tends to block the highest good.
It is always about allowing: allowing what-Is, embracing and expecting the experience.
(To be continued next week).
You Are The Universe Discovering Itself
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
The following is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
There is so much that you seek in this world. You seek because you believe you do not have. You try to find something you believe is missing from your existence. When you fully come into realization that you ARE the universe, that you are intelligence, existence, Life itself, you cannot be lacking anything. That realization may cause you to imagine that you do not need anything. However, the more intelligence you attain and the more awareness you gain, the more you recognize that need is a natural, connecting link to all of Life. Plants need, animals need, and you need.
Without this web of Life, without the interdependency that underlies all of existence, connections would never be formed. You would go around oblivious to existence, and if you are oblivious to existence you are unconscious to experience, to learning, to gaining information, to creating a base of knowledge, and knowing. Without knowing, you do not understand the flow of Life. Without knowing, you do not understand existence itself. You remain in the dark.
Life is about establishing connections. You are interdependent with all of existence, but the body-mind system often fails to recognize that, because you seem to be skin-bound. You have apparent boundaries: "This is mine, and that's yours. I live here, you live there. I have this, you have that."
There is so much in human language that indicates mass superstition, mass separation, beliefs and concepts "about"; there is so much that really has nothing to do with your life. You believe things that have been handed to you from the human past. You believe the concepts, the conditioning, the programming, and the teachings, which have seeming importance to your survival. You think you need to know the conditional hand-me-downs in order to survive.
Yet in this human arena you begin to believe far too much. For what is believed is outside, conditional, and "about." It is void of direct experience, void of an actualization of what is possible. So many humans live in that kind of vacuum. You can walk around pretending, making believe, hoping, but never coming to actualization of the uniqueness that you are, never realizing that you are on purpose, that within you is a distinctive aspect of the universe, a uniqueness that wants to express, wants to experience, wants to connect. YOU are the universe discovering itself.
If you remain closed, if your heart is shut, if you are afraid, if you are trying to stay safe, erecting barriers around you, fearing that someone might see you as you really are, you are depriving the universe--Life itself--of a very rich, rewarding experience.
So much for spiritual agendas, beliefs and concepts that say, "We don't need anything because we are sufficient within ourselves." The truth is there is no "ourself." There is no self, there is no separate identity, there is no isolated, cut-off, bounded, bordered individual. The interdependency of Life assures that that is impossible.
You have to get over your beliefs about the outside. This means changing your perspective, looking at the world differently, understanding how you are participating in an unfolding evolution, realizing that you are designed to experience Life not by a designer but by Life, by existence itself. Existence learns from experience. It is like a feedback loop: what you experience contributes to the experience of the universe, what others experience contributes to your experience. It is interconnected.
If you are persistent in living in isolation and separation, bounded by consensus reality, conditions, beliefs and concepts, you are a participant in creating pain and suffering, and ultimately death. You actually die to get out of the experience of separation. You die to escape it.
So what about living? You live to connect. You can look out upon this world and see how much need there is for connection. You can look around you and see the core of the individual that knows this interdependency of the whole web of Life, of all existence, the core that longs to have the actualization, longs to be able to experience the connection, to experience Life firsthand.
The obstacles to this realization include fear: fear of being seen, fear of being recognized, countless fears that keep the human being enslaved. There is a certain apprehensiveness, or even outright fear, of being real. What if you are not liked? What if you are too different and are not accepted? What if . . . ?
Yet so what? A healthy dose of "so what" is vitally important to your existence. When you can respond with "so what" to an obstacle, it is diminished, it loses its power.
(To be continued next week).
Weekly Message, December 23, 2006.
Your Choice
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant.
The following is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
You are the experience of existence, the experience of Life, and to a large extent you are self-designed.
There is great power in this human experience. You get to decide how you want to be with things. You can decide from your programming, your conditions, your beliefs, your religions, your disciplines, and your structures, or you can decide from YOU, yourself, the core of your existence, that aspect of you that is beyond belief, even beyond comprehension. That aspect cannot be analyzed. It is too deep, too expansive. You can decide how you are going to be with things from that place.
When you are closed, you create an obstacle to that transcendent freedom. You have to be open to possibilities. Your heart, that center of awareness, needs to be receptive to the flow of Life. That's where humans run into trouble. You are afraid. You are afraid someone might take advantage of you, because people have taken advantage of you in the past. You are afraid that you might not be enough, because you believe you aren't.
You are afraid to be real, so you always have guarded experiences. You are afraid to display any kind of need, because that would indicate some weakness, some flaw in your existence. The thinking is: "You can't be needy! You can't need anyone!"
Where did such thinking come from? It is utter nonsense. You need Life. Life needs you. You need experiences. There would be no experiences without you. The universe would be void, empty, and desolate without you. The universe needs you as much as you need the universe. And part of your experience of the universe comes from those around you. You need the connections with each person in your field of experience, in your arena of existence--such as family, co-workers, and acquaintances. You need those people in your life, because that is the only way you are ever going to get to know the universe.
Systems and structures that advocate, "You don't need anything, because you are all-powerful, you have everything within yourself, you are self-contained," represent a denial, a loss of experience.
You need someone to love. You need someone to play with. You need someone to converse with. You need people to be in your life, at varying capacities. It doesn't matter what kind of relationship it is. Instead of "relationship," I like to call it "playship." In a playship, you are playing. Watch children at play. They play games, they have fun, they get mad at each other but five minutes later they are no longer mad. That is a playship.
In a true playship, there is no attachment. Playships encourage all kinds of experiences and behavior, all kinds of connections. Playships point to the interdependency of each particle of Life, each aspect of existence, each need.
In this awareness, you come to the conclusion that it is OK to need people in your life. It is OK to need experiences. Actually, it is demanded. Try to imagine a person who doesn't really need anything. The person doesn't need sleep, doesn't need food, doesn't need exercise because the person doesn't move, doesn't go anywhere, doesn't need entertainment. What kind of a person would that be? That would be a dead person.
Do you know anything that has no needs, other than something that is dead?
Your choice is to be dead or alive. I know, sometimes you may wish you were dead when you start to face what "being alive" entails. It can be frightening. When you begin to understand how you really have to be open and receptive to the flow of Life, it can be intimidating and scary, because always in the background there is the fear, "What if I'm not enough? What if I am unlikable? What if I am too ugly? What if . . . "
There are all these "What if's?" Somehow you have to transcend those thoughts, those beliefs, and begin to just accept Life as it is. My experience of Life has validated this truth: everything I need to experience comes to me, whether I want it or not. This is not magic. It happens because I am open. If I were closed, if I were demanding that, "It has to be THIS way," if I had a lot of criteria, judgments, attachments, or beliefs, it wouldn't work. But because of my openness to Life, Life comes to me through connections with everything. Everything I need to know, I have learned from Life, from direct experience. Everything I need to experience, I am experiencing. Experience is always teaching about the flow of energy, about how Life works.
I honor that need for connection. I honor that perception of "needing", even "wanting." Now, there is a little trick to needing and wanting. You can acknowledge your needs and your wants as long as you are not attached to them. When you become attached to needs or wants, that creates problems. So you remain unattached to them. You realize that to be open and receptive to the flow of Life, Life meets your needs and wants as they benefit existence itself. We call it "the highest good." If you become attached, the attachment tends to block the highest good.
It is always about allowing: allowing what-Is, embracing and expecting the experience.
(To be continued next week).
Weekly Message, December 30, 2006
It Is Time
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
This is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
You can form connections with all aspects of Life. Those connections give Life in return. You don't live in isolation or separation. You live in connection.
Coming from connection, there are many possibilities. When you connect to some aspect of Life, such as another person, there is an exponential experience, because it is not just two people, it is a synergy. The synergy is that process in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Every connection, every experience becomes enriched in this way. Every realization is enriching, enhancing, and expanding, making the universe more than it was just a moment before.
From this connection there are certain responsibilities. The intellect shies away from responsibility. "I'll take the connection, Ishvara, but can you leave the responsibility somewhere else." Responsibility isn't a bad thing; it is simply the ability to respond to what-Is. You realize that when you form connections you are to see the biggest possible connection, the highest possibility of experience, and not have it curtailed or limited by expectations or beliefs. You are to experience it through a great openness.
What is "open"? Of course it means not being closed, but "open" is more than that. "Open" is like a hunger. You are open because there is the desire, the need, the want to be receiving. And the other side of being open is that you are also giving. Openness flows freely back and forth; giving and receiving are part of openness. They are part of love, part of intimacy.
You see, humans have been practicing and studying this for a long time, but haven't seemed to grasp it. There are still so many programs, morals, beliefs, commandments, and rules that simply close the process down. On the other hand, to practice openness invites awareness, awareness of unimagined possibilities, awareness of even greater connections that require fearlessness.
Imagine a person who in the past started to experience love in some dimension, some way, but it went sour. Then at some level the mind was made up, "Never again! I will not stick my foot out again for it to be stepped on. I'll just be hard, cold, indifferent, separate, isolated, and closed." You see that person walking around, lips down turned, many wrinkles in the face, sluggish in pace, hobbling. You look and see there is something wrong. Perhaps we all know someone like that.
One's life is a consequence of one's beliefs. Your life is a consequence of your fears, of what you have held to be true. Your life is a result of those core things you have ignored, and those you have accepted.
This connection, this realization is really about abandoning the past, letting go of those concepts, perceptions, rules, and past experiences that caused you to close down. Ishvara is asking you to take the risk. It is risky. It is risky to experience real Life.
Most individuals are quite satisfied to experience an artificial life, a make-believe life, an imaginary life, the life from the storybook, the life that is supposed to be. There is no such thing. There is only the Life that is, and you are experiencing that. You are experiencing it whether you realize it or not. You cannot not experience it. The next step is simply to embrace what you are experiencing. Let go of the fear, the resistance, the attachment. Let go of the concepts that hold you separate or unworthy, and begin to embrace the idea that you are loveable, that you can be appreciated, and that you are needed. Allow that you are needed, that you are needed by others within this connection, within this morphic field, within this universe. The universe itself is needing you as much as you need the universe. Life needs you as much as you need Life.
We can see, in a way, that existence is based on need. So much for all the New Age mumbo jumbo that you have no need. Existence is based on need. If the universe didn't "need," you would not exist. Furthermore, if you, as collective humanity, didn't "need," the universe would not exist. Something is terribly wrong with human philosophy, beliefs, conditions and religions that always stick everything outside, making up how it is supposed to be, with some divine force supposedly pulling the strings, controlling things, setting up everything the way it is. I am sorry, but if there were such a force, it would be pretty stupid. You can look around and see that things are not set up very well. There is disease, starvation, disaster, war, and death. What kind of intelligence is that?
It is time to awaken to what the universe really is, to what Life is, and to what you are. It is time to move into this New Consciousness, becoming the New Species. It is time.
It is time to open yourself to be receptive to an accelerated Life, an expansive existence that knows no boundaries, no limitation, no impossibility. It is time to recognize that the universe is made up of possibilities, inherent possibilities, dormant possibilities, with some possibilities being activated moment by moment. It is time to recognize the same for yourself. You are possibilities, some dormant, some starting to wake up, some already experienced. You are possibilities. You are this existence.
(To be concluded next week).
It Is Time
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
This is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
You can form connections with all aspects of Life. Those connections give Life in return. You don't live in isolation or separation. You live in connection.
Coming from connection, there are many possibilities. When you connect to some aspect of Life, such as another person, there is an exponential experience, because it is not just two people, it is a synergy. The synergy is that process in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Every connection, every experience becomes enriched in this way. Every realization is enriching, enhancing, and expanding, making the universe more than it was just a moment before.
From this connection there are certain responsibilities. The intellect shies away from responsibility. "I'll take the connection, Ishvara, but can you leave the responsibility somewhere else." Responsibility isn't a bad thing; it is simply the ability to respond to what-Is. You realize that when you form connections you are to see the biggest possible connection, the highest possibility of experience, and not have it curtailed or limited by expectations or beliefs. You are to experience it through a great openness.
What is "open"? Of course it means not being closed, but "open" is more than that. "Open" is like a hunger. You are open because there is the desire, the need, the want to be receiving. And the other side of being open is that you are also giving. Openness flows freely back and forth; giving and receiving are part of openness. They are part of love, part of intimacy.
You see, humans have been practicing and studying this for a long time, but haven't seemed to grasp it. There are still so many programs, morals, beliefs, commandments, and rules that simply close the process down. On the other hand, to practice openness invites awareness, awareness of unimagined possibilities, awareness of even greater connections that require fearlessness.
Imagine a person who in the past started to experience love in some dimension, some way, but it went sour. Then at some level the mind was made up, "Never again! I will not stick my foot out again for it to be stepped on. I'll just be hard, cold, indifferent, separate, isolated, and closed." You see that person walking around, lips down turned, many wrinkles in the face, sluggish in pace, hobbling. You look and see there is something wrong. Perhaps we all know someone like that.
One's life is a consequence of one's beliefs. Your life is a consequence of your fears, of what you have held to be true. Your life is a result of those core things you have ignored, and those you have accepted.
This connection, this realization is really about abandoning the past, letting go of those concepts, perceptions, rules, and past experiences that caused you to close down. Ishvara is asking you to take the risk. It is risky. It is risky to experience real Life.
Most individuals are quite satisfied to experience an artificial life, a make-believe life, an imaginary life, the life from the storybook, the life that is supposed to be. There is no such thing. There is only the Life that is, and you are experiencing that. You are experiencing it whether you realize it or not. You cannot not experience it. The next step is simply to embrace what you are experiencing. Let go of the fear, the resistance, the attachment. Let go of the concepts that hold you separate or unworthy, and begin to embrace the idea that you are loveable, that you can be appreciated, and that you are needed. Allow that you are needed, that you are needed by others within this connection, within this morphic field, within this universe. The universe itself is needing you as much as you need the universe. Life needs you as much as you need Life.
We can see, in a way, that existence is based on need. So much for all the New Age mumbo jumbo that you have no need. Existence is based on need. If the universe didn't "need," you would not exist. Furthermore, if you, as collective humanity, didn't "need," the universe would not exist. Something is terribly wrong with human philosophy, beliefs, conditions and religions that always stick everything outside, making up how it is supposed to be, with some divine force supposedly pulling the strings, controlling things, setting up everything the way it is. I am sorry, but if there were such a force, it would be pretty stupid. You can look around and see that things are not set up very well. There is disease, starvation, disaster, war, and death. What kind of intelligence is that?
It is time to awaken to what the universe really is, to what Life is, and to what you are. It is time to move into this New Consciousness, becoming the New Species. It is time.
It is time to open yourself to be receptive to an accelerated Life, an expansive existence that knows no boundaries, no limitation, no impossibility. It is time to recognize that the universe is made up of possibilities, inherent possibilities, dormant possibilities, with some possibilities being activated moment by moment. It is time to recognize the same for yourself. You are possibilities, some dormant, some starting to wake up, some already experienced. You are possibilities. You are this existence.
(To be concluded next week).
Weekly Message, January 6, 2007
No One Knows Who You Are
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant.
Below is the conclusion of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
This realization means that it is alright for you to need and that you begin to really appreciate the connections in your life: people you connect with, people you relate to. You begin to appreciate all that Life has given you. If you would spend as much time looking at those connections in your life as you do looking at all the problems, fears, or seeming separations, your life could change radically.
If you spend your time appreciating what you have, it is guaranteed that you will have more. That is the nature of energy. It goes where you focus. If you continually focus on the problems in your life, you keep them energized. This is not about denial. This is about true recognition. You recognize how you got to where you are. You have that responsibility. You have the ability to respond to your current situation. You have the ability to look, and say, "OK, I'm probably here because this is what I believed I could get. This is what I thought is possible for me. This is what I believed from what 'they said.' This is what is possible based on my conditioning, my upbringing, and my past. This is what I accepted."
Why? Why accept that? What kind of authority established that? At some point you begin to realize that your parents don't know any more than you know. The systems, the structures, and the beliefs don't know any more than you know. How about that? When you really look at it, isn't it an amazing truth? Isn't it amazing that the religions, priests, ministers, rabbis, and mullahs--all of those supposedly enlightened individuals--don't know any more than you know? Just like you, they are following the book, reading the lines, adhering to the so-called "truth," because "It is written." In fact, they don't know anything.
People may like to think that governments know, but governments don't know anything either. They are just following rules handed down from the past. The proof is that if a few people in this world really knew the truth, the whole of humanity would be enlightened, the whole of humanity would recognize the universe that they are, and this entire human experience would become absolutely, totally outrageously transformed.
You can't even imagine, the intellect is not capable of envisioning, what is possible.
Yet you can accept that you know as much as anyone else. You may not know that you know as much, because you have been programmed not to know. You go to school and you participate in structures, systems, beliefs, and concepts, in order to be completely programmed to meet a certain criterion: "This is the way it is. This is who you are. This is what you have to do." Balderdash!
No one knows who you are. No outside system or structure knows who you are. There are many people who think they know who you are, but they don't really know. That realization may seemingly make it difficult to form connections, but we are not forming connections with beliefs and concepts. We are not forming connections with what people believe to be true. We are forming connections because of our interdependence as Life itself. We are forming connections with hearts, the pure essence of Life itself residing in every particle of matter.
Think about the cells of the body. The cells are little energy systems. Each cell has its own little energy heart. As the cells are, as the human beings are, so is the universe. It is all heart--a vibrating force of energy that is intelligent, evolving, becoming, and knowing. And it certainly recognizes its need. Where would you be if your cells suddenly became independent? Your skin couldn't contain you any more. The skin is not one big cell, it is a whole bunch of little cells. The cells of the skin have to work together to contain you. So if the cells suddenly became independent, you would become an ooze instead of a body.
Recognize that the heart of existence is love, is acceptance, is allowing, is embracing, that it is intimacy, compassion, and patience. Recognize that love is not a conditional "you take care of me, I'll take care of you" mindset. Recognize what love truly is. The universe is a very intimate experience. The universe is very close, connected, needing, wanting, desiring, embracing, experiencing, and that makes room for EVERY possibility, every shade, every color, every diversity, and every uniqueness. It is something for everyone.
The universe is something for everyone. All you have to do is get over yourself. Just do it. Just proceed to know you can get over yourself. Recognize your need for Life, your need for connections, because there is an interdependency upon the whole of Life, of existence. Honor that need. Create and establish the connections on purpose, looking for that wherever you are, in every moment, in all of your existence, allowing for it, appreciating it when you find it, and looking for it until you find it.
That is the trick: do not give up. So you have had a sour experience. So the connection failed. If you get cut off while you are making an important telephone call, do you run over the hill and cry about it? No, you call the operator and demand help. "What happened? I had a connection. It's gone. Where did it go?" You cannot give up. There is a persistence that is necessary for this Life. This means that you keep expecting, that you keep allowing through openness, and you keep being receptive to the flow of existence, moment by moment. It is all within you. It is possible for you, moment by moment. Life is this.
No One Knows Who You Are
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant.
Below is the conclusion of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 19, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
This realization means that it is alright for you to need and that you begin to really appreciate the connections in your life: people you connect with, people you relate to. You begin to appreciate all that Life has given you. If you would spend as much time looking at those connections in your life as you do looking at all the problems, fears, or seeming separations, your life could change radically.
If you spend your time appreciating what you have, it is guaranteed that you will have more. That is the nature of energy. It goes where you focus. If you continually focus on the problems in your life, you keep them energized. This is not about denial. This is about true recognition. You recognize how you got to where you are. You have that responsibility. You have the ability to respond to your current situation. You have the ability to look, and say, "OK, I'm probably here because this is what I believed I could get. This is what I thought is possible for me. This is what I believed from what 'they said.' This is what is possible based on my conditioning, my upbringing, and my past. This is what I accepted."
Why? Why accept that? What kind of authority established that? At some point you begin to realize that your parents don't know any more than you know. The systems, the structures, and the beliefs don't know any more than you know. How about that? When you really look at it, isn't it an amazing truth? Isn't it amazing that the religions, priests, ministers, rabbis, and mullahs--all of those supposedly enlightened individuals--don't know any more than you know? Just like you, they are following the book, reading the lines, adhering to the so-called "truth," because "It is written." In fact, they don't know anything.
People may like to think that governments know, but governments don't know anything either. They are just following rules handed down from the past. The proof is that if a few people in this world really knew the truth, the whole of humanity would be enlightened, the whole of humanity would recognize the universe that they are, and this entire human experience would become absolutely, totally outrageously transformed.
You can't even imagine, the intellect is not capable of envisioning, what is possible.
Yet you can accept that you know as much as anyone else. You may not know that you know as much, because you have been programmed not to know. You go to school and you participate in structures, systems, beliefs, and concepts, in order to be completely programmed to meet a certain criterion: "This is the way it is. This is who you are. This is what you have to do." Balderdash!
No one knows who you are. No outside system or structure knows who you are. There are many people who think they know who you are, but they don't really know. That realization may seemingly make it difficult to form connections, but we are not forming connections with beliefs and concepts. We are not forming connections with what people believe to be true. We are forming connections because of our interdependence as Life itself. We are forming connections with hearts, the pure essence of Life itself residing in every particle of matter.
Think about the cells of the body. The cells are little energy systems. Each cell has its own little energy heart. As the cells are, as the human beings are, so is the universe. It is all heart--a vibrating force of energy that is intelligent, evolving, becoming, and knowing. And it certainly recognizes its need. Where would you be if your cells suddenly became independent? Your skin couldn't contain you any more. The skin is not one big cell, it is a whole bunch of little cells. The cells of the skin have to work together to contain you. So if the cells suddenly became independent, you would become an ooze instead of a body.
Recognize that the heart of existence is love, is acceptance, is allowing, is embracing, that it is intimacy, compassion, and patience. Recognize that love is not a conditional "you take care of me, I'll take care of you" mindset. Recognize what love truly is. The universe is a very intimate experience. The universe is very close, connected, needing, wanting, desiring, embracing, experiencing, and that makes room for EVERY possibility, every shade, every color, every diversity, and every uniqueness. It is something for everyone.
The universe is something for everyone. All you have to do is get over yourself. Just do it. Just proceed to know you can get over yourself. Recognize your need for Life, your need for connections, because there is an interdependency upon the whole of Life, of existence. Honor that need. Create and establish the connections on purpose, looking for that wherever you are, in every moment, in all of your existence, allowing for it, appreciating it when you find it, and looking for it until you find it.
That is the trick: do not give up. So you have had a sour experience. So the connection failed. If you get cut off while you are making an important telephone call, do you run over the hill and cry about it? No, you call the operator and demand help. "What happened? I had a connection. It's gone. Where did it go?" You cannot give up. There is a persistence that is necessary for this Life. This means that you keep expecting, that you keep allowing through openness, and you keep being receptive to the flow of existence, moment by moment. It is all within you. It is possible for you, moment by moment. Life is this.
Weekly Message, January 13, 2007
A Whole New Sense Of Awakening
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
I have transcribed and edited the message below from a talk Ishvara gave on November 26, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
To be all you can be in each moment is to be open, to be receptive, to be aware of connections, aware of possibilities, aware of surroundings. The human being has a special capacity to experience Life, to feel Life, to feel existence. Often feeling can be problematic, sometimes it can be elating, but it is necessary to realize that Life is feeling. To experience Life requires an openness, a receptivity, an honesty, and a presence, allowing for connections and possibilities. This is often difficult for the conditional human, because consensus reality has placed such a premium on the intellect, on the thinking mechanism, that true feeling is frequently denied or missed.
Many of the human senses can contribute to feeling. Yet feeling is not to be confused with emotion. Emotions are most often blocked energies, misunderstood energies from past experience, that tend to run rampant in one's life. Yet behind emotion there is a feeling, a sense that is more present. Feelings are often misunderstood, rejected, suppressed, or denied, because they can be difficult to deal with. They can be in such conflict.
You can experience a great gratitude, a great sense of alrightness, yet within that same arena there could also be a feeling of fear, regret, or resistance. Such a contradiction in feeling!
To move deeply into that kind of awareness you must realize that feeling comes from allowing the connection, allowing the realizations that are there, embracing the experiences that are there. So feeling can be interpreted through the intellect, which is often conditional and controlled, or feeling can be felt, embraced, and deepened.
As you submerge yourself into feeling, you move out of the intellect. You move out of the analysis of what it is, what it means, how it is there, whether it is "right" or "wrong," and you begin to embrace the Is-ness. Is-ness is often in conflict and contradiction. That is the nature of experience. Experience is not one-pointed; it is not a thing. Is-ness is an experience of the whole, of the totality, of a bigger picture. Experiencing what-is involves embracing various aspects, various polarities and possibilities, seeing the conflicting aspects of existence.
It becomes a process of resolving the conflict not by denial, but by embracing. To embrace that is truly to become love, love that is unconditional, accepting the Is-ness, without fear or expectations, without those attitudes and conditions that tend to close you down.
It is important to remain open and receptive to the flow of existence, of Life itself. As you move into more connected awareness, more transcendent awareness, you open yourself and become sensitive to what-is. That often creates a conflict. You may not want to feel certain aspects of Life. It may be difficult. But to feel without the intervention of the intellect, to feel without interference, is a process of Life, a process of discovery, of opening.
To allow for that, you begin to look at experiences. You can realize experiences that you have denied, experiences that you have resisted, and experiences that you have been attached to. Within that realm of experience there is great possibility for feeling, feeling deeply, broadly, expansively. To allow that is the work of Life. This involves embracing the feelings of existence without the intellectual interpretation, the why or the how, but just feeling what-is without judgment or resistance, developing that sense that is a combination of many of the other senses.
Humans are not used to truly feeling. Most experience Life through conditions, beliefs, and concepts, always running everything through the intellect: "What does it mean? What does it look like? Why is it that way? How does it work? Why is it working? Will it work?" Yet for the New Species, in the New Consciousness, there is a whole new sense awakening, a sense we can call feeling, deep, expansive feeling.
(To be continued next week).
A Whole New Sense Of Awakening
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
I have transcribed and edited the message below from a talk Ishvara gave on November 26, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
To be all you can be in each moment is to be open, to be receptive, to be aware of connections, aware of possibilities, aware of surroundings. The human being has a special capacity to experience Life, to feel Life, to feel existence. Often feeling can be problematic, sometimes it can be elating, but it is necessary to realize that Life is feeling. To experience Life requires an openness, a receptivity, an honesty, and a presence, allowing for connections and possibilities. This is often difficult for the conditional human, because consensus reality has placed such a premium on the intellect, on the thinking mechanism, that true feeling is frequently denied or missed.
Many of the human senses can contribute to feeling. Yet feeling is not to be confused with emotion. Emotions are most often blocked energies, misunderstood energies from past experience, that tend to run rampant in one's life. Yet behind emotion there is a feeling, a sense that is more present. Feelings are often misunderstood, rejected, suppressed, or denied, because they can be difficult to deal with. They can be in such conflict.
You can experience a great gratitude, a great sense of alrightness, yet within that same arena there could also be a feeling of fear, regret, or resistance. Such a contradiction in feeling!
To move deeply into that kind of awareness you must realize that feeling comes from allowing the connection, allowing the realizations that are there, embracing the experiences that are there. So feeling can be interpreted through the intellect, which is often conditional and controlled, or feeling can be felt, embraced, and deepened.
As you submerge yourself into feeling, you move out of the intellect. You move out of the analysis of what it is, what it means, how it is there, whether it is "right" or "wrong," and you begin to embrace the Is-ness. Is-ness is often in conflict and contradiction. That is the nature of experience. Experience is not one-pointed; it is not a thing. Is-ness is an experience of the whole, of the totality, of a bigger picture. Experiencing what-is involves embracing various aspects, various polarities and possibilities, seeing the conflicting aspects of existence.
It becomes a process of resolving the conflict not by denial, but by embracing. To embrace that is truly to become love, love that is unconditional, accepting the Is-ness, without fear or expectations, without those attitudes and conditions that tend to close you down.
It is important to remain open and receptive to the flow of existence, of Life itself. As you move into more connected awareness, more transcendent awareness, you open yourself and become sensitive to what-is. That often creates a conflict. You may not want to feel certain aspects of Life. It may be difficult. But to feel without the intervention of the intellect, to feel without interference, is a process of Life, a process of discovery, of opening.
To allow for that, you begin to look at experiences. You can realize experiences that you have denied, experiences that you have resisted, and experiences that you have been attached to. Within that realm of experience there is great possibility for feeling, feeling deeply, broadly, expansively. To allow that is the work of Life. This involves embracing the feelings of existence without the intellectual interpretation, the why or the how, but just feeling what-is without judgment or resistance, developing that sense that is a combination of many of the other senses.
Humans are not used to truly feeling. Most experience Life through conditions, beliefs, and concepts, always running everything through the intellect: "What does it mean? What does it look like? Why is it that way? How does it work? Why is it working? Will it work?" Yet for the New Species, in the New Consciousness, there is a whole new sense awakening, a sense we can call feeling, deep, expansive feeling.
(To be continued next week).
Weekly Message, January 20, 2007
You Begin To See Everything
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
Below is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 26, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
As you begin to embrace deep feeling, it can seem problematic, because you are having to deal with suppressions, misunderstandings, judgments, and expectations of the past. To truly feel can be intimidating. When you are interacting or working with some individuals, feeling comes up. How do you deal with that feeling? As you are more open, as you become more love, the intensity of the feelings increases, not decreases. You may feel in danger of getting out of control.
Yet as you move into this arena of the New Consciousness, into a deepened awareness, expansive of possibilities, you are to feel. You are to feel the connection with Life, with all of its aspects, with all of its possibilities, and aren't to be fearful of those feelings. At the same time, you are to find a balance with them.
In this process, you begin to realize that Life is not this or that. Life is this and that, totally "this AND that," all-inclusive, unfolding in the vastness of existence, of feeling, of possibilities, of sensitivity.
So how are you going to be prepared? How do you prepare yourself for this opening, for this awakening, without becoming overwhelmed, without being fearful, resistant, or judgmental? As you are totally grounded in the moment, totally present in Is-ness, you can recognize the possibilities that have arisen from the past, that have been misunderstood or misdirected. You can look at these things intellectually, with a certain awareness, but often the feeling of those things is left behind, denied or resisted, simply because it is not understood. In true awareness, you can start to embrace the feeling.
When you become aware, in the New Consciousness as the New Species, you realize that Life is feeling, deep, expansive feeling, feeling the Is-ness of existence. You begin to realize that the universe is about feeling. There are infinite amounts of information, of knowledge, in the universe, but without feeling, without that connectivity to the very heart of existence, it is dull, void, and empty. Knowledge without that connection is hollow and useless.
So the opportunity is to feel. To feel Life as-it-is in its rawness, in its presence, in its possibilities, is a great gift to the human being, a great gift of knowing that can bring about an evolution of possibilities, an evolution of the species, an evolution of Life itself.
The process, the work, is to embrace that, to look at the contrarieties that come up in each moment, to see the conflict not as wrong, but as natural, as different sides of an event, the up and the down, the polarity.
In this process of awakening and enlightenment, one often moves into denial of true feeling, trying to circumvent it with some law, some ideal, some fixed possibility, but the truth of Life involves embracing each moment as-it-is, being open to the conflict, the contrarieties, and the opposites, which really means embracing diversity. You are a diverse person. You are not one-sided, you are not lopsided. You have many sides, many talents, many possibilities, many ways of seeing things.
Out of habit, you may tend to look at Life through a certain window, through a certain conditional way of seeing, but to be fully realized, to embrace the whole of Life, you begin to practice seeing without the intellect, seeing through the feelings that come from connection, the transcendent affair of existence. This involves embracing what-is, seeing it as clearly as you can, moment by moment, allowing it, not judging it, but realizing it is part of existence, part of you. Each moment is an opportunity to move deeper and deeper into this awareness. Each moment is an opportunity to expand your horizon to see a bigger picture, to see even greater possibilities, not through the intellect, but through heart, through feeling.
The sensitivity that continues to develop within the New Species, in the New Consciousness, allows for a greater flow of Life. When Life is intellectualized (there is nothing wrong with intellectualization), it is missing something. People are basically intellectual, looking at cause and effect. They are looking through conditions, beliefs and concepts, thinking of how things are supposed to be, and how things should be, which continues to create a seedbed for more struggle, resistance, and attachment.
To turn that around, you begin to see Life as a possibility, a deep, expansive possibility. You begin to feel Life, to feel love, to become love. Love is a feeling, love is an energy. Love cannot be intellectualized. Love is often contrary, often in conflict. Love is a thing of itself, and it is accessed through feeling: allowing, through openness, the feeling of Life as-it-is, not being afraid, but embracing it. In that process you discover more about yourself than you ever thought possible. You discover more of your talents, your possibilities, your gifts, more than you ever thought existed, because as you look through the intellect you miss so much. When you look through the core of your existence, your true Self, you begin to see everything.
(To be concluded next week).
You Begin To See Everything
Written and transcribed by Terry Grant
Below is the continuation of a message I have transcribed and edited from a talk Ishvara gave on November 26, 2006. - TG.
Ishvara:
As you begin to embrace deep feeling, it can seem problematic, because you are having to deal with suppressions, misunderstandings, judgments, and expectations of the past. To truly feel can be intimidating. When you are interacting or working with some individuals, feeling comes up. How do you deal with that feeling? As you are more open, as you become more love, the intensity of the feelings increases, not decreases. You may feel in danger of getting out of control.
Yet as you move into this arena of the New Consciousness, into a deepened awareness, expansive of possibilities, you are to feel. You are to feel the connection with Life, with all of its aspects, with all of its possibilities, and aren't to be fearful of those feelings. At the same time, you are to find a balance with them.
In this process, you begin to realize that Life is not this or that. Life is this and that, totally "this AND that," all-inclusive, unfolding in the vastness of existence, of feeling, of possibilities, of sensitivity.
So how are you going to be prepared? How do you prepare yourself for this opening, for this awakening, without becoming overwhelmed, without being fearful, resistant, or judgmental? As you are totally grounded in the moment, totally present in Is-ness, you can recognize the possibilities that have arisen from the past, that have been misunderstood or misdirected. You can look at these things intellectually, with a certain awareness, but often the feeling of those things is left behind, denied or resisted, simply because it is not understood. In true awareness, you can start to embrace the feeling.
When you become aware, in the New Consciousness as the New Species, you realize that Life is feeling, deep, expansive feeling, feeling the Is-ness of existence. You begin to realize that the universe is about feeling. There are infinite amounts of information, of knowledge, in the universe, but without feeling, without that connectivity to the very heart of existence, it is dull, void, and empty. Knowledge without that connection is hollow and useless.
So the opportunity is to feel. To feel Life as-it-is in its rawness, in its presence, in its possibilities, is a great gift to the human being, a great gift of knowing that can bring about an evolution of possibilities, an evolution of the species, an evolution of Life itself.
The process, the work, is to embrace that, to look at the contrarieties that come up in each moment, to see the conflict not as wrong, but as natural, as different sides of an event, the up and the down, the polarity.
In this process of awakening and enlightenment, one often moves into denial of true feeling, trying to circumvent it with some law, some ideal, some fixed possibility, but the truth of Life involves embracing each moment as-it-is, being open to the conflict, the contrarieties, and the opposites, which really means embracing diversity. You are a diverse person. You are not one-sided, you are not lopsided. You have many sides, many talents, many possibilities, many ways of seeing things.
Out of habit, you may tend to look at Life through a certain window, through a certain conditional way of seeing, but to be fully realized, to embrace the whole of Life, you begin to practice seeing without the intellect, seeing through the feelings that come from connection, the transcendent affair of existence. This involves embracing what-is, seeing it as clearly as you can, moment by moment, allowing it, not judging it, but realizing it is part of existence, part of you. Each moment is an opportunity to move deeper and deeper into this awareness. Each moment is an opportunity to expand your horizon to see a bigger picture, to see even greater possibilities, not through the intellect, but through heart, through feeling.
The sensitivity that continues to develop within the New Species, in the New Consciousness, allows for a greater flow of Life. When Life is intellectualized (there is nothing wrong with intellectualization), it is missing something. People are basically intellectual, looking at cause and effect. They are looking through conditions, beliefs and concepts, thinking of how things are supposed to be, and how things should be, which continues to create a seedbed for more struggle, resistance, and attachment.
To turn that around, you begin to see Life as a possibility, a deep, expansive possibility. You begin to feel Life, to feel love, to become love. Love is a feeling, love is an energy. Love cannot be intellectualized. Love is often contrary, often in conflict. Love is a thing of itself, and it is accessed through feeling: allowing, through openness, the feeling of Life as-it-is, not being afraid, but embracing it. In that process you discover more about yourself than you ever thought possible. You discover more of your talents, your possibilities, your gifts, more than you ever thought existed, because as you look through the intellect you miss so much. When you look through the core of your existence, your true Self, you begin to see everything.
(To be concluded next week).
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