Peering Out Into The World

Peering out into the world, I sit in joyful anticipation of all which is unfolding. I have no idea where I'm going, but I don't need to know. The journey is satisfying enough.

"If you bring forth what is within you
what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you
what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

~ The Gospel of Thomas

Intentionally Intending

What would happen if every morning for the next 30 days, I intentionally intended? What if I intentionally intended to bring my life's desires into my life by saying "yes" to my intuition...by saying "yes" to all that which I want...by saying "yes" to all my soul's desires and believing they are on their way to me?

The thing is that I've been doing this for almost 2 months now and I can't help but giggle by what's showing up in my life these days. 'Tis so exciting.

So, every day, I meditate on what I'd like to have in my life, give thanks for it and then release it into the world with the knowledge that it will come back to me.

The energy known as Abraham recommends we say the following each morning: "I intend to see; I expect to see, no matter who I am with, no matter where I am, no matter what I am doing, I intend to see what which I want to see."

Yep. Couldn't say it any better than that! So, what would happen if you tried this for 30 days? Imagine the possibilities!

Naming the Nameless

One theme which continues to pop up in my studies of Jung, Schopenhauer, Campbell, Tolle, Saint Patrick, et al is this theme of "interconnectedness", "collective unconsciousness", and "oneness." These are not new themes I'm discovering, as they have long played a role in my life; however, what *I am* finding incredibly fascinating is seeing how each of these individuals grappled with the idea and then how they chose to describe it. Talk about synchronicities!

I think one of the interpretations of this idea that I like best comes from the Tao Te Ching, chapter 25, which is entitled "Naming the Nameless." I'm including the whole of it here for your happy perusal! Enjoy! Namaste!

"What preceded life? The earth.
What preceded the earth? The universe.
What preceded the universe?
The soundless and shapeless, origin of origins,
ever transforming and having no beginning nor end.

This Mother of the universe is boundless, and nameless.
But if we wanted to share with you anything
about this remarkable non-executing executor,
we must invent a name for it.

We will call it the Tao because Tao means great.
Incredibly great because it occupies infinite space,
being fully present in the whole universe, and in every infinitesimal particle.

Because this Great Integrity created the universe,
and the universe created the earth,
and the earth created us, we are all incredibly great.

Life derives from the nature of the earth.
The earth derives from the nature of the universe.
The universe derives from the nature of the Great Integrity.
And the Great Integrity is the omnipresent, omnigenous omniform,
the universal material and spiritual abundance,
and the holoversal interlinkage and coition of existence."

Meditations on Beauty

Rose, June 2008.


I've decided to take my love of flowers one step further -- from admiring to purchasing. In celebration of this week's full moon and tomorrow's solstice (both celebrations of light and illumination), I saw these luscious, gorgeous roses and quickly brought them home.

They remind me that life passes swiftly and that fragility is all part of the cycle. In the meantime, I give thanks for these roses and for the ability to experience them will all my senses.

Oh, for they are so sweet!

Synchronicities!

I continue to be amazed at the amount of synchronicities occurring in my life these days. Then again, I should not be so surprised because I'm actively inviting them into my life. Still, the rate at which they're occurring is so amazing that I can't help but giggle sometimes.

Let me share with you what I mean.

Lately, I've been consumed by the writings and teachings of Schopenhauer (thanks to a recent dream I had), Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung. Jung himself was particularly intrigued with this idea of synchronicity -- "the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality" (Webster's Dictionary).

Today I was reading Sharon Franquemont's "You Already Know What To Do", which speaks of ways to invite yourself into the intuitive life. At one point in the book, Sharon suggests that the reader close his or her eyes and ask the question, "Why is it important for me to invest in my intuition?" or (as I often ask) "Please show me what I need to know/see right now for my own personal development."

So, I closed my eyes, centered myself and started flipping through the book, feeling pulled to stop on a particular page. Once there and with eyes still closed, I allowed my finger to move along the two pages until it decided to stop. Here is what I found:

"Method #4: Situation Comedy and Synchronicities" and the lesson began with a young woman, Paula, who felt compelled to move to Oregon. My finger rested upon these words: "

Paula was having a series of what Carl Jung called synchronicities, meaningful coincidences which are not related by our normal understanding of cause and effect...Synchronicities occur in a variety of contexts, not just those where important decisions are being reached. Sometimes their greatest gift is sheer laughter" (p. 142).

Duly noted, Universe! Duly noted! I *am* laughing, and I giggle with future expectation of more of this to come!

Power of Myth -- II

My fascination with Campbell continues, so I thought I would share more of his musings (and my own) here in this space. As I was sharing with my friend, Lynn, this evening, my hunger for these teachings and others I'm encountering is so voracious and palpable that I cannot seem to download the information fast enough.

***

One of the leitmotifs which skips through Campbell's teachings is the importance of recognizing and honoring our divine natures. Campbell says we must "wake up to the divine which resides within each of us." In doing so, we recognize that we are not really these bodies or these minds or even these experiences. Instead, when we choose to see who we really are, we can transform our lives (and those around us) instantly.

This concept that we are all flames of the same divine spirit is among the reasons why I am so intuitively drawn towards the Indian greeting of "Namaste", which means "that which is divine and holy in me recognizes that which is divine and holy within you." In choosing to see each other's transcendent and divine natures, it becomes easier to observe and interact with each other's human physicalities without attachment or judgment.

Joseph Campbell put it this way:

"God is an intelligible sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere...and the center is right where you're sitting and the other one is right where I'm sitting and each of us is a manifestation of that mystery."

Among the benefits of honoring our divine natures is that the ego cannot reside there. It cannot reside in stillness because it is of restless action. It cannot exist where there is divinity because there is fullness. And, the more we choose to see each other's divinity (the "thou") and our resulting interconnectedness, the less the ego can survive. Campbell tells us, "The ego that sees a 'thou' is not the same ego that sees an 'it'." This recognition alone can dramatically change one's psychology. Eckhart Tolle frames it this way: "So every ego is continuously struggling for survival, trying to protect and enlarge itself. To uphold the I-thought, it needs the opposite thought of "the other." The conceptual "I" cannot survive without the conceptual "other" (p. 60).

So, by removing thought constructions of "the other" or "it", we remove the obstructions between each other. We realize we are all one in the same. We realize we are the same spark of the divine flame or the same breath of the Creator or God or Source Energy or whatever your preferred mental construct is on this point. Perhaps then we can move away from outdated modi operandi and into more fulfilling modi vivendi.

Vibrational Escrow

I've been spending the past 6 weeks or so studying the co-creative work of Abraham-Hicks and have really aligned with the message of vibrational escrow -- namely, that with each new experience in life, we send out rockets of desire for things/people/experiences we would like to have in our lives; however, until we align with the frequencies of those desires, we will be unable to receive all that sits in vibrational escrow waiting for us.

Think of it in this way -- if you set your car radio dial to AM, you can only receive AM stations. It is absolutely impossible to receive FM stations while tuned into AM frequencies.

So, too, is it in life. We may want certain things/people/experiences to manifest in our lives but they will not happen until we attune ourselves to the frequencies of those particular desires.

What I find absolutely liberating about this idea is this: I am creator of my life and its resulting experiences. I create my reality but I can also choose to change it at any moment. What a liberating thought! There is nothing to limit me but myself, and I've decided not to do that anymore. The secondary benefit of this realization is that it encourages one to re-empower oneself. So often in the past, I carelessly allowed others access to my power (a.k.a. my essential nature) and even gave it away to still others; however, not anymore. I've recalled it all and am already reaping the benefits of that action.

One lesson I've learned through this active creating is that the best results occur when you relinquish control over how these desires will arrive into your life. Simply put, manifest them but let go of attachment as to how they will show up. You can't imagine the delightful surprises which will find you with this practice.

So, I challenge you. What is it that's been eluding you in life? Meditate on that desire. Examine what conflicting thoughts you may have around that desire. Do what you can to remove them, as they are interfering with your chosen desire. Release expectation as to what the arrival of the desire will look like -- may come differently than you think and in a different package. Sit back with the knowledge that this desire is already on its way to you. Imagine the joy you will feel upon receiving it. Feel the joy in your current experience because it is already yours. Relax. Smile. Give thanks. When interfering thoughts surface, do what you can to release them. Continue this practice as often as you need to until the desire appears. And then...give thanks, give Thanks, give THANKS.