Author: levelprayingfield

“I Am” to “We Are”

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If you have read the about developmental stages of the spiritual evolutionary journey described on Level Praying Field, you have probably read about the significance of the words, “I Am.”

Moses resonated with the words, “I Am That I Am” at the burning bush when he experienced his true, innate nature and recognized consciously his alignment with the Divine and his mission to free the Jewish slaves.

This same developmental stage awaits all human beings. If they are dedicated to growth, each in their own way, at their own time, every human being may come to a point where they, too, say, “I Am” (see Stage 3). It is a decisive, pivotal moment when they defy restriction and expectations, and when they assert — accepting all costs that may come from their boldness — their true nature.

Ukraine is having such a moment, right now. In the face of Russian oppression which asserts that Ukraine is really part of the Russian “family,” Ukraine is saying, “Sorry, absolutely not, we are Ukrainians.”

They are willingly putting everything on the line to back up their claim (one of the requirements of the true “I Am” moment).

Their fierce leader in this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made this assertion very clear. When, in the face of Russian’s imminent invasion, he was asked by Western powers if he wanted help evacuating, he replied, “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.” This was his declaration of independence unto death — accepting the ultimate consequence. And in his personal declaration, he is leading his people on a national version of the same. Due to his leadership, coupled with Ukrainians’ own developmental readiness and scrappy, strong character, Ukrainians are steadfast and unified. “We Are Ukrainians.”

The astonishing, wondrous, powerful, and momentous thing is… the Ukraine spirit is so strong that it is not just unifying the Ukrainian people; it is motivating the world to take their own ride of “I Am” along with them. Putin’s oppression is so strong and so dark that it is rousing compassionate, self-assertive forces around the world. In Paris, Berlin, New York, Rome, London and across the globe, people are saying, “Ukraine, we are with you.”

Ukraine is leading us into a global “I Am.”

Non-dual doesn’t mean half-empty

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One of the biggest challenges in seeing beyond duality occurs pretty much any time you open your mouth. This is because, from a dual perspective, your failure to opt for the perceived “positive” side quite readily gets interpreted that you must therefore support the “negative” side.

This is understandable, because from within the lens of duality, that’s all one sees — one side or the other side. But from the standpoint of spiritual reality, to see the non-dual perspective as “negative” is inaccurate.

For example, today my heart is breaking for the people of Ukraine. In my every quiet moment for the past two to three weeks, Ukraine has been in my thoughts and prayers. I have strong emotional ties to Eastern Europe. I personally know Ukrainians here in America whose families are there. As this crisis has been building, I did not share President Zelenskyy’s optimism that Putin would back down. This is because I grew up in a household where my father was staunchly suspicious of Russian cunning and expansionism; but, more than that, because I saw the conflict in Ukraine as a classic example of the tension between Individuation and Law which is so fundamental to human spiritual evolution and so core to the human experience. This conflict is what gives us the opportunity to grow as human beings. In Ukraine, right now, this universal conflict is taking place on a national level.

So today I see these events in Ukraine in two ways. On a very personal level, I am aching for the people there who are frightened, fleeing, suffering and putting their lives on the line. I was up in the wee hours last night cringing with sadness as the first rockets created blasts of light over sleepy towns on my television screen. I thought of my hairdresser’s family and wondered how they were doing. I thought of going over to the salon today to give her a hug.

Yet from the perspective of spiritual reality, I know that even this invasion is what we do on Earth. Over and over again, on individual and aggregate levels, life gives us opportunity after opportunity to struggle to individuate against mighty, resistant forces. The mighty forces serve their purpose in helping us to strengthen and purify. Nothing is for naught. All is love, actually. Yes, even Putin (sorry, Dad). All is God.

What?? Maybe you cringe when you read those words. Notice how, from within duality, you may expect any comment on an “atrocity” like the invasion of Ukraine to offer righteous outrage, condemnation, indignation. Yes! Of course! Anything less sounds cold and unsympathetic. Maybe even downright evil.

Consider Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus offered us The Beatitudes, which contain a highly significant, true and profound esoteric understanding. The Beatitudes articulate the developmental life stages required to fulfill the spiritual mission here on earth and enter God’s Kingdom. The last Beatitude, which describes the pinnacle of spiritual attainment on Earth, says, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven….”

In this statement, Jesus is describing this phenomenon right here – that from within non-duality, if you open your mouth, you will look like you’re supporting the “dark”, unloving side. People will be frightened and hate you for it. But it doesn’t mean you’re espousing evil. It means you’re transcending good and evil entirely.

Take the case of that classic glass which can be seen as either “half full” or “half empty.” The non-dual perspective doesn’t see “half full.” Thus to some, it must seem that the non-dual perspective therefore sees “half-empty.”

Actually, the non-dual perspective chooses neither “half full” nor “half empty.” It understands the strengths and purpose of both, and is simply grateful for the glass.

Uncomfortable

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Nonduality exists in the space beyond the mind. The mind cannot grasp it.

No doubt you have heard spiritual teachers say this, for it is the one consistent thing that can be said about nonduality. Other than that, nonduality completely defies description.

Lao Tzu calls nonduality “The Tao.” The Bible calls it “The peace which passeth all understanding.” Rumi calls it “The Friend.” Jewish mystics seek to honor the ineffable nature of God by refusing to utter God’s name at all. In writing, they note it as “G-d.”

The love and peace of nondual Being can only be recognized in an “Aha” moment; and it is recognized as something that you have always known, you just didn’t see it for what it is.

The implication of this, of course, is that it’s a real head-scratcher if you try to figure it out mentally. I remember sitting with awakened spiritual teachers in many satsangs over the years and the overriding experience when I would hear them talk was, “Huh???” I could feel their genuineness and their love—I could feel it in my heart. But my head? My head was totally confused. Their words did not make sense.

That tells you something right there.

It was uncomfortable, sitting with that “Huh??” We like to know things. We like to be right. We like certainty.

So be prepared to be uncomfortable as you get nearer and nearer to the breakthrough into nondual consciousness. The rights, the wrongs, and “shoulds” that we rely upon to orient ourselves (and sometimes flagellate ourselves)—they all fall away. They are discovered to be false. For navigating in this earthly plane of existence, a facility with duality is an operational necessity. But in spiritual reality, duality is transcended.

This is why the task of people whose consciousness has become nondual is to “be in the world, but not of it.”

What belief do you hold to be most true? The belief about which you are so certain and clear that the conviction has become part of your identity. Often such a self-identified belief takes the form of something you know that you would never do. “I would never lie.” “I would never have an affair.” “I would never let myself run out of money.” “I would never be a quitter.” “I would never ______” (fill in the blank).

Then what if even that most core conviction got shattered? Then where would you be?

Gift of Grace

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Anyone interested in seeing what the world looks like through a single lens – i.e., from a non-dual perspective – is also likely inevitably to ask, “How do I get there?”

This is an excellent question. To grow in consciousness and to experience our capacities as spiritual beings in human form–these are basically the tasks we undertake as we live here on Earth. Everything else we do here is secondary. So to ask the question, “How do I get to the point where I see beyond duality, myself?” means that you are in alignment with one of your core reasons for being born on Earth.

You will find your own way. Everyone’s way is different. There are many paths. But I can tell you one very essential thing: the leap in perspective from dual to unified consciousness is always a gift of grace. It comes to you; you can’t choose when it happens to you. Yes, you can take a hallucinogenic drug and have a beautiful experience that feels mystical, and that may be wonderful for you. It can open up new insights. But it’s like seeing the movie of awakening. It is not awakening. At the end of the movie, you still have to get out of your chair, throw away your popcorn and soda containers, and go out into the world as you knew it before you walked into the movie theater. You prepare for true awakening through diligent spiritual preparation which takes hours, months, usually years of concerted inquiry and disciplined practice.

I have a saying, “When brought to our knees, we tend to look up.” It’s true that moments of awakening into unified consciousness can come under duress. The tension of stressful circumstances somehow help us to get out of our own way, help us break through our customary patterns of perception, and see the world newly, differently, truly – without our mental agendas imposed.

But even then, awakening is always a gift. The night before I woke up, my whole world was completely falling apart. I had been a dedicated, but quite unhappy, wife, Mom and housewife. I believed in marriage; I wanted a cohesive family for my daughter who was then only 6. But decades of spiritual inquiry had strengthened me inwardly enough where I was ready, somehow; and suddenly nothing made sense in my life. Nothing made sense except for this hugely powerful love for another man – not my husband – and that love felt like the North Star to me. It seemed to me that NOTHING, nothing in the entire world before, present, or to come was as important as being true to this love. And then of course, everything DID fall apart. My marriage, my home, my extended family (who were all horrified at my behavior.) I felt suddenly completely alone and bereft. I remember going to bed that night absolutely SOBBING and saying to God, “I know that I am following the right path for me. I have never been so certain of it. But I am so unclear. I am so confused. Please, would you just show me the truth. Your Truth. Your highest path for me.” I prayed from the bottom of my heart. It was all I knew to do. That night, each sob was a scream to the heavens: “Show Me.”

I fell asleep, and the following morning, when I awakened, I saw beyond duality. My world really did change from that moment forward. The unified perception was a gift. The answer to my prayer. The inevitable outcome of surrender. It was comfort. It was the experience of the purest, most omnipresent love I’d ever experienced up until that point. So many ineffable things.

Before that day, I had read about the life and experiences of mystics from all the religious traditions. I knew from those readings that every mystic had said the same thing: that the mystical experience of knowing God directly cannot be willed into being: it is a gift from God. My experience showed me the same.

So do not try to will yourself into seeing beyond duality. A willful approach will only set you back. Set yourself upon surrendering, inquiring, and candidly groping your way into it. Be curious and soft. Dedicated and humble. Strong and steadfast in your love of God.

God really does want to bring you home. But God doesn’t want to share you with anything else. All false idols have to be given up… and given the dogged nature of the human personality and the addictive nature of the human realm, well, it just takes awhile.

When in doubt, just ask, “Show me.” I promise, you will be shown faithfully onward to whatever is your next step.

Through a Single Lens

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It is time to start blogging again. Today I walked into church and, after exchanging “Good morning” with the greeter, I was asked if I would be willing to read aloud one of the community prayers from the bulletin during the service. “Sure,” I said. I know this drill. In preparation for the service, the church staff highlight each of the 10 or so community prayers in each of 10 bulletins and give them out, one each to 10 arriving congregants, so at the time of the community prayers, each prayer is uttered by a different person. The prayers are therefore passed through the congregation and, over time, week after week, everyone takes part. I love it.

There was a particular way the greeter looked me in the eye, which told me God was at work. It’s that feeling of “velcro” that, decades ago, my first spiritual teachers taught me about – that sticky hit of direct knowing that tells you: this is not just a passing moment; there is something here for you. Something to guide you, to comfort you, to instruct you. Pay attention.

I sat down and looked at the bulletin. I opened up to the highlighted prayer that I was assigned to read. The prayer said: “You…” (meaning God) “…who framed the first light in creation, dispel the arrogance, animosity, and anger that shatter the unity of your holy Church. Fill your faithful people of all nations with the radiant light of truth.”

I read this knowing that, at home, with the settings purposefully set to hide it from world, lay this website which articulates how all the world religions, each on their own terms, collectively make up a single, unified path of evolving, developing consciousness. It is a Bigger, Unified Picture We All Share, clear as day if we just know how to see it. It was revealed to me in the years 1998-2003 after literally decades of spiritual seeking. And I’ve just been sitting with it, letting it percolate. It hasn’t been time to bring this forward. Often I doubted if I even would bring it forward. “You picked the wrong messenger, God,” I would mumble to myself, either confused or frustrated or dismayed, at various different points. After years of doubt and struggle, I finally just let it all go, where I found a certain kind of awkward peace, followed many years later by a deep, resolved peace. Looking back, it has been a period of deep surrender and non-action. I have been settling into Being. So it has been a bit surprising, after all this time, to feel God not only without and within (as usual), but curiously tapping me on the shoulder again.

I read the prayer phrase in the program book this morning knowing that when there is action to be taken, God always speaks to me in threes. Always I have gotten three signs, all confirming the same message. This is how God started guiding me in my 20s when I was just embarking on a spiritual path. And it’s how God still guides me today–in threes. Just to make sure there is no mistake. In the past several months, since the shoulder tapping recommenced, already I had received two messages to start blogging again. This was the third.

God is very, very clear when God wants you to listen. When it’s time, there is no mistaking. So EVERYTHING in this morning’s service pointed to action, underscoring emphatically, yes, this third prod. The same message was in the first reading (“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest”), the sermon, the prayers. Even my husband looked over at me and raised his eyebrows.

So here I am. After a 5+ year hiatus, blogging again.

This blog will articulate a view of the world from the perspective of oneness, beyond duality. Where you, God, and everything that happens, are a perfect expression of love. Where everything that transpires–no matter how horrible or magnificent it may appear through the lens of duality–is fully an expression of love, and exactly what we need to grow and further our collective spiritual evolution here on earth. Nothing, ever, is beyond the embrace and expression of God’s love.

This blog is not exclusively Christian. It honors and upholds all the world religions and all the ways of loving God. You will find core teachings of all the major world religions integrated into the website, as I have been a reverent student of the world religions all my life.

You won’t find “rights” and “wrongs” here. You won’t find me trying to convince you of how to live your life. I will show you how you are part of a bigger, more perfect, more amazing and miraculous, unified picture. Because that is what I see, going through my day, through a single lens.

Maybe…

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maybe

This morning, as much of the world is in shock at Donald Trump’s unexpected win of the 2016 Presidential election, I find myself thinking of a Zen Buddhist story I learned many years ago:

A farmer who used a horse to help him plow his fields discovered one morning that his horse had run away. His neighbors were very sympathetic. “Oh! That’s too bad!” they cried.

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

The next morning, the horse came back, followed by three other wild horses. “Look at that!” the neighbors cried. “You’ve got more, now! That’s great!”

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

The following day, as he was riding one of the wild horses, the farmer’s son got bucked off the horse and broke his leg. Once more, the neighbors gathered in support and sympathy. “Oh, what a shame!” they cried.

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

The next day, military officials arrived from the big city announcing that they were drafting all young men into the army. Seeing the son’s broken leg, the officials passed on, excused the son from duty. “What great luck!” the neighbors cried. “That’s terrific that your son can remain at home!”

“Maybe…” said the farmer.

At the core of every event is a center that is constant. That center is alive in you. It is the truest thing about you. The task is to find it.

 

The 2016 Presidential Election – Beyond the Polarity

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2016-election

In the media and in everyday conversations, the 2016 Presidential election has been routinely called “unprecedented.” For some, it is unthinkable that a man like Donald Trump could wind up in the most powerful office in the world. For others, it is equally unthinkable that a woman like Hillary Clinton could.

The election has also been characterized by enormous polarization. I’ve heard people say they won’t put a Trump or a Clinton bumper sticker on their car for fear of their car getting keyed. There are threats of revolt if the “other side” succeeds.

If we step back, remembering that all people on the earth go through the same, multi-stage evolutionary process to become more fully conscious and fulfill our human potential, the polarization gets transcended. We start to see that there’s actually a lot of similarity on both sides.

For perspective, first consider what makes for a great leader. Great leaders are mature spiritually. Due to that maturity, they have the capacity to go through all six evolutionary stages within their lifetime, enabling them to come out of the refiner’s fire and assume a position of leadership where they lead wisely and selflessly, in true service. Selfless, service-oriented leadership is only possible when there has been self-declaration (“I Am”) and then purification, so that the ego is ground down and the individual no longer identifies with personal needs.

Nelson Mandela is a great leader in whom that developmental process is very obvious. He emerged as a leader against apartheid (“I Am”), but then was imprisoned for many years. When he was released, through the process of purification he underwent while in prison, he was ready and able to lead wisely, selflessly and powerfully. Of course, not every great leader has to be imprisoned to be purified—purification can happen in any number of subtle ways—but in Mandela’s case, imprisonment was the vehicle.

In both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we have leaders who have clearly passed the milestone of self-assertion, but they are behaving as if that stage (Stage 3) is eternal, and it is not. (To their credit, this is a basic misunderstanding in current western society and throughout much of the world, dominated as it is by western thinking.) But the life stages inevitably prevail. Each in their own way, through this election, both Clinton and Trump are finding their efforts thwarted; they are undergoing the surrender phases following self-declaration.

What used to work, just isn’t working any more

In Trump’s case, he has been stunned to discover that his mandate is not as self-evident as he assumed it would be. A man who, for the past twenty years, has rarely had his thoughts, words and actions challenged, suddenly in the sphere of the election, he’s found his words examined at every turn and often used against him, damaging his prospects and—just as bad—his hard-earned, hard-bought brand.  These are all hallmarks of the surrender phase. In the surrender phase, the Type A’s “achiever” modus operandi just doesn’t work anymore, and there’s nothing to do but stew in the astonishingly fact of being thwarted. Most leaders in this phase simply trudge on, as is he.

Hillary Clinton is undergoing a similar process. While on paper, she has many Type A achievements to her credit and is perhaps the best qualified candidate who’s ever sought the Oval Office, people just don’t like her. They don’t trust her. The email issue has not gone away because it’s based on a fundamental, unresolved suspicion that the Clintons have been too accustomed to power for too long and (people worry) can’t tell the difference any more between what’s appropriate and fair or not.

Notice how similar the positions of both candidates are! Both have been hugely successful. Both are at a point in their lives where they have started to assume that success is part of their identity. Yet suddenly the dynamics of election are grinding down those assumptions—their entitlements, if you will. This is all classic surrender phase stuff.

From the American populace, strong, exasperated, disbelieving voices continue to cry out to both candidates, “You are not fit to lead!” Actually, all those voices are correct. With their purification phases unfinished, neither Trump nor Clinton are ready. No matter who wins on November 8, America will elect a candidate whose ego-identification will be the biggest challenge to their effective leadership going forward.

Illuminating Manuscripts

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This weekend, my husband and I went to the Sackler Gallery and visited an exhibition: The Art of the Qu’ran: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.

Over the years, I have loved studying illuminated manuscripts—ornately rendered Bibles or musical scores from the Medieval and Renaissance eras.

To view this kind of artwork applied to the Qu’ran fascinated me. I’ve read the Qu’ran many times. I have hated seeing how Muslims are being increasingly profiled today in America and around the world. So when I read about this show in the Post, I was intellectually, creatively, and compassionately curious.

Visitors entering into the exhibit see this:

It is the opening of the Qu’ran (Sura al-Fatiha):

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate! Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds. The Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate Master of the Day of Judgment. It is You we worship; it is You we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path, the path of those You have blessed, those who incur no anger and who have not gone astray.

I was struck by two things:

First, it reminded me that Arabic is written right to left, unlike most Western languages which are written left to right. What a profound difference in human perspective that makes! Remember that we as humans are dramatically affected by the imprinting of our personality in our youth. What can be more fundamental than the imprint of how we orient language, the most basic mechanism that humans use to communicate with one another.

I remember studying in biology that the brain’s hemispheres (right and left) are highly specialized, and that the muscles in each half of the body are controlled by the brain hemisphere on the opposite side. Specifically, the brain’s right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body, and the brain’s left hemisphere controls the muscle’s on the body’s right side.  Left brain functions are things like processing hearing and speech, carrying out logic and math, and recalling facts from memory. In contrast, the right brain governs facial recognition, visual imagery, spatial abilities, processing music, comparisons and context.

So what must it do to our very world view – and how we process the world – to read from birth from right to left instead of left to right? What muscles—and thus nerves—must get activated in our bodies differently from having the governing visual default rest on the right instead of on the left? What gifts and specialties would that predispose us to as human beings?

To show how profoundly different a perspective this would yield, westerners, please read this—from right to left. It is a paragraph you have already read above:

rebmemer I
s’niarb eht taht ygoloib ni gniyduts
thgir) serephsimeh
dna ,dezilaiceps ylhgih era (tfel dna
selcsum eht taht
dellortnoc era ydob eht fo flah hcae ni
eht yb
.edis etisoppo eht no erehpsimeh niarb
eht ,yllacificepS.
eht slortnoc erephsimeh thgir s’niarb
eht no selcsum
tfel s’niarb eht dna ,ydob eht fo edis tfel
erephsimeh
thgir s’ydob eht no selcsum eht slortnoc
niarb tfeL. edis
gnissecorp ekil sgniht era snoitcnuf
gniyrrac ,hceeps dna gniraeh
dna, htam dna cigol tuo
morf stcaf gnillacer
niarb thgir eht ,tsartnoc nI .yromem
laicaf snrevog
laitaps ,yregami lausiv ,noitingocer
gnissecorp ,seitiliba
.txetnoc dna snosirapmoc ,cisum

Notice if you feel any differently after reading that.

I suspect we are only scratching the surface of understanding the relative strengths created from such radically different orientations in the world. I can only imagine. I hope today’s neurobiologists are exploring this. I think it would help the people of the world to understand each other better.

At the exhibit, the second thing that struck me was this sentence: “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those You have blessed, those who incur no anger and who have not gone astray.”

…Who incur no anger. The Qu’ran specifically singles out—right in its opening text—the characteristic of incurring anger in others as a distinguishing factor among those who have fallen off the “straight path” of obedience to God.  In other words, if you piss others off, you must have fallen off God’s right path, buddy. You’re not living in peace and creating peace.

Pretty clear, isn’t it?

So to anyone who thinks that the terrorists fighting in the name of Allah around the world today are accurately representing Islam, think again. It’s simply not true. For proof, look no further than the first sixty words of the Qu’ran. People who wage war in the name of Islam are off on their own extremist jaunts—which is what human beings do if they perceive oneness and act in what they perceive to be the name of God before they become purified. Read in my website where I discuss the challenge this presents and the resulting problems if the challenge isn’t met correctly.

Spiritual leaders have been awakening to oneness for centuries, very often not understanding the importance of becoming purified before they act. Which is why wars have been waged in the name of religion (and, ahem, in the name of all religions) for centuries.

Not incidentally, guess what one of the core teachings of the Qu’ran is? Purification. So the world has much to learn from this illuminating manuscript.

Queasy

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Today I received a comment from a reader who had visited this website. He wrote:

Just got through my strengths and gifts. Nurturer stood out the most for me. Reading through all the other descriptors was like reading through everyone on the planet, people I like and surround myself with; people I don’t like and avoid and judge. Interesting that I feel a bit queasy.

I love the brave candor of this visitor. It takes guts to tell it like it is–particularly when the internal response is a little uncomfortable.

In my experience, discomfort–yes, even downright queasiness–comes with the territory when your consciousness is expanding. It means the narrowness of pre-conception is falling away. This is good news.

It is so much easier to judge. Judging keeps us feeling safe and secure and comfortable, for we’re in known territory. Our certainty is reinforced.

But certainty isn’t real. Love is real.

Think of it this way. The human spiritual path concludes in a state where the individual is living in the quality of love and acceptance for all; in fact, united consciously with all.

To go from a judging mentality (right/wrong, good/bad, yes/no) to an accepting, univeral, non-dual mentality logically must mean, then, that things you thought had fallen on the “no” side of the equation must be looked at… well, differently. More humanely. With more acceptance and love.

And this is what the visitor was experiencing. There was room in the model presented here for everyone. Everyone. And suddenly that made him uncomfortable.

I can imagine him thinking: I was so sure I was on the ‘right’ side of this. But if those people aren’t ‘wrong’… and I don’t think like them… what does that make me??

comfortzoneWhen you expand spiritually, you push beyond your comfort zone. Something in your established mindset gets challenged. It is the beginning of something bigger.

The first time I was challenged to hold something in love that I had felt strongly was “wrong,” I was very disconcerted. In fact, it was during my daughter’s birth when I almost died and she almost died, so I was more than disconcerted–I was near death! I’m sure that’s partly what helped my preconceptions to fall away so profoundly. In that moment, I had a vision of a spiritual teacher I had only visited once and she came to me as a vision, her head in front of me as big as a tire. She said to me, “Suzanne….” (implicitly dismissing all the things I had been so afraid of and thought were so “wrong,” “…It’s all love.”

It’s all love. All love??? What, are you kidding me?

It literally took me another seven years to reach the point spiritually where my consciousness transcended duality and I saw for myself that yes, it really is ALL LOVE. Seven years is a long time, and many times I was queasy.

So let yourself be queasy, my friend. When you hit your queasy stages, gently keep asking your questions and asking for answers in the manner that I advise. Your honesty will be your guide. Your honesty with yourself, with others, and with your inquiry. Trust that a greater power will reveal the truth to you, and that, in the end, love will melt all division.

It’s All God

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A few days ago, an acquaintance said to me, “No one smiles any more.”

This woman is 90 years old. She still lives independently. She was featured last year on You Tube and the Huffington Post launching her own business, Happy Canes.

If Grandma Pearl of “Happy Canes” is saying “No one smiles any more,” you know things are intense.

I learned years ago that suffering results from expectation. If there’s a way you “think things ought to be,” when things depart from expectation (as inevitably happens in life), you get disappointed, and you suffer.

It’s like that joke: “How do you make God laugh?” Answer: “Tell God your plans.”

You’re a lot freer when you can accept What Is.

But looking around – at Ebola, fires, beheadings, terrorism, religious conflict, humanitarian cruelties, drought, greed, the increasing division of wealth – I know – it’s awfully hard to accept all that as “What Is.”

But it is What Is. It’s happening.

Now at a certain point on the spiritual path (Stages 2 and 3), the indicated response to atrocity is to stand up and fight like mad against it. And today, you see people doing that.

But for other people, people at Stages 4 and 5, the task is radical acceptance – not to fight with What Is. At that point, the task moment by moment is to accept. More: to trust. Life becomes a walk of faith. On a global scale, I believe that’s our challenge: to have faith in What Is. But how do we come to believe and know that everything – yes, even all those atrocities – too, are God?

I came up with a saying, years ago, when personally I was at the point of deep, perplexed suffering that, on a global level, the world seems to be in, now. My saying was, “When brought to your knees, you tend to look up.” Personal challenge humbled me, cracked my heart wide open, illumined a Bigger Picture that embraced all. Sometimes it just takes what it takes to put your priorities and your understandings straight. “Grace with brass knuckles,” I called it.

I believe humanity is in a Purification phase where we’re being brought to our knees so that we remember to look up. It’s not that we have been “bad.” We simply need to atone. To become “at one” again. At One with All That Is. To remember that there is no separation. That everything is God.

In my experience, “at-one-ment” does not come from self-flaggelation and guilt. At-one-ment comes from seeing things newly. Seeing things as a unified whole where previously there seemed to be division.

So how do we get to the point where we organically, genuinely know that anything that happens – anything – is of God?

When you think about it, how can it be otherwise? God created all. We live in a realm of separation, surely. But it’s separation of consciousness only. Not of reality. Physics tells us that energy and stuff are always energy and stuff, regardless of form, constantly converting form. We know that certain people – mystics – transcend separation, even in this world that seems so separated. They know peace: here, now. They see and breathe and experience God in All. Divisions of up/down, good/bad, right/wrong fade away into the bliss of One. So how do we get from the “here” of separation to the “there” of union?

That’s one of the purposes of this blog – to help guide the way there.

I have just come back to my home after spending nearly four weeks far away with Fred, helping him recover after having been struck with sudden, serious illness. Everything happened so fast. An operation that was supposed to take maybe 2-3 hours and be relatively straightforward went on for 10-1/2 hours. A tumor that was, according to 7 prior biopsies, supposed to be benign turned out to be cancerous – high grade. And actually there wasn’t just one cancer in there, but two. Another cancer entirely was lurking in Fred’s esophageal wall behind the so-called “benign” tumor they’d seen. So many expectations were thwarted, so intensely, so fast!

In that context, it would have been so easy to feel that God was somehow missing from the picture. That there was separation, division, even betrayal.

Sedonaprint_MoffittBut when Fred was moved from Intensive Care into his own room, I walked into his room to see this photo on the wall. I knew the place at once: it’s Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.

In 1986 when I made the choice to turn my life over to guidance and just follow, Sedona is the first place where guidance lead me. I lived for nine months just a few miles from Cathedral Rock. I passed it every day to go pick up my mail.

I met one of the most significant spiritual mentors of my life in Sedona – a priest who continues to be a mentor today.
I met my first husband there. He and I hiked Cathedral Rock together many times – it was a sacred spot for us. After we divorced – without either of us knowing what the other was doing – we each independenty made a trip to Cathedral Rock to leave our wedding rings there. So today, both of our wedding rings are somewhere up on that formation.

And this was the image that greeted me when I walked into Fred’s hospital room.

That image told me, in the midst of all my overwhelming concern for Fred, that God was with me, with Fred. That God is always there; that All Is God, even when it seems, as Grandma Pearl said earlier this week, that “no one smiles any more.”

To come to know that All is God requires a walk of courage, assertion, then faith and surrender.