The Instrument

Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland


We are not inside our bodies.  Our bodies are within us.  Our bodies are our instruments for interacting with the material world.

We all know what it takes to keep our instruments in good working order:  whole organic foods (our fuel), clean water, pure air, and consistent exercise.  The most important factor in keeping our instruments working is eliminating stress.

Heart disease is the number one killer.  Stress (in very direct relation) causes heart disease as well as many other diseases.  It is also the major cause of our frustration and unhappiness.

Stress is caused by compulsive, unexamined thought.  The thoughts that cause stress usually consist of expectations of future events.  We fear something that we think will happen to us, or we are afraid that we will not receive something that we think we deserve or desire.

By eliminating expectations, we eliminate stress.  We eliminate expectations by surrendering our desires and bringing our attention, without judgment of any kind, to the present moment.

Our expectations of what we think we want pale in comparison to what we receive when we release our thoughts and allow Universal Spirit to guide us.  We are relaxed and stress free because we know that everything will unfold just as it should for the highest outcome for all concerned.

Let's allow reality to be just as it is.  

Courage

Onetangi Beach, Waiheke Island, New Zealand

We know how to awaken.  We have all the tools.  We have the teachings of all the masters, living and dead, at our disposable at any time.  We know what to do.  So, why is it so difficult?

It is difficult for two reasons.  First, we have built a protective wall around all of the memories of painful incidents we have experienced during our lives.  We have shielded ourselves from the pain.  When we bring our awareness to our thoughts, we are confronted with our subconscious thoughts and we are terrified to confront them.  Also, our thoughts and belief systems are the only existence that we know.  They are who we think we are.  If we surrender our thoughts and beliefs, we believe that we will cease to exist and we are afraid that there will be nothing (or worse) left.

Of course, we know that this is untrue.  However, it takes real courage to face our painful memories and take the leap of faith into the Unknown.  We will not do this alone.  When we take this leap of faith, there is something on the other side to catch us.  There is a Universal Intelligence which has been begging us to join it.  There is peace, love and joy on the other side.  There is nothing to fear.

Let's have the courage to surrender and leap into the Great Unknown.

Nature

Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Japan

Our true nature is peace, love and joy.  Our experience of our true nature is obscured by a veil that we have created.  The veil is our ego, our thoughts, our beliefs.  Our thoughts that we have had throughout our lives has created a system of beliefs that has hardened into a wall between ourselves and our true nature.

We do not have to search for love and happiness.  We only have to lift the veil and be who we really are.  We can lift the veil of hardened beliefs by surrendering our prejudices, thoughts, judgments and beliefs and turning our awareness to the present moment, the place between our thoughts.  Our thoughts will then recede into the background and we will be in harmony with our true selves, i.e., Universal Intelligence.

 Let's be one with our true nature by surrendering our thoughts and beliefs and being present.

Truth

Merino Sheep, Glenorchy, New Zealand


The main cause of our suffering is that we believe our thoughts are truth.  This is the fundamental lie of our existence.  It is not events in our lives that cause us unhappiness.  It is our thoughts about those events.  We believe that if things were different than they are, everything would be fine with us.  Nothing is wrong with reality.  Reality is perfect.  It is our perception of reality that causes our problems.

We experience freedom when we understand that we are not our thoughts and our thoughts are not true.  By creating a separation between our awareness and our thoughts, we can begin to question our thoughts.  By creating this separation, we can look at our thoughts, without judgment.  When we bring awareness to our thoughts, we understand that there is no connection between truth (i.e., reality or what is) and our thoughts.  We can then begin to stop taking our thoughts seriously, and look at our thoughts with amused detachment.  The grip that our thoughts and beliefs have over our lives and well being will start to loosen and eventually fall away altogether.

Once we understand that there is a difference between ourselves and our thoughts, everything will change.  The world will look different.  Our unhappiness will fade.  We will know peace, love and joy in our lives.

What we think and believe are lies.

Let's accept what is, just as it is.

TIme

Santa Fe, New Mexico

The time to awaken is now. It is time to stop fucking around. It is time to stop "becoming," stop "being on the path," stop"getting better." It is time to stop waiting, to stop believing what we are thinking, and to stop wanting things to be different than they are.

It is time to surrender all of our frustrations, judgments, and beliefs now. It is time to accept with gratitude everything that happens to us. It is time to surrender our thoughts, and bring our attention to the present. If we do not do it right now, in this very moment, we will never do it. We cannot awaken in the future.  The past does not exist. The future does not exist. They are only projections from our thoughts.  We cannot awaken tomorrow. We can only awaken now. Right now. This moment and forever.

We are awake. We are present. We are who we really are. We are love. We are joy. We are peace. We are One. Now.

Remembering

East Cape, New Zealand

As we live a more mindful life, our anxiety lessens and our ego fades into the background, there is one tool which keeps us in the present moment.

When we are stressed and lost in compulsive thought, we remember that our thoughts are not the truth or how things really are. We remember to bring our attention back to the present, to surrender our thoughts, and to release everything that we are holding.

Every time we remember, it is a rebirth. We are reborn back to our true selves, reconnected with Universal Spirit. It is not anything that we have to learn. We only have to remember.

Let's remember who we really are.

meditation

Stony Batter, Waiheke Island, New Zealand

If we could take a pill which had no side effects and would eliminate our anxiety, frustration, anger, sadness, loneliness, feelings of unease and worthlessness would we take it? Of course we would. If twenty minutes of meditation a day could accomplish the same thing, would we do it? For some reason, the answer is usually "no."

Meditation has been proven to have extremely beneficial health effects and to increase our sense of well being and peace. It is simple to do, does not take much time, and is free! If we don't know how, there are a multitude of books, courses and information on how to do it. For example, we can do a simple mindfulness meditation by bringing our attention, without judgment, to our breathing. As our mind wanders and we realize it, we gently, without judgment, bring our attention back to our breathing.

All it takes is a bit of discipline and courage. Discipline is required because our ego will come up with an almost infinite number of excuses why we shouldn't do it. We need to be disciplined to override the strong impulses of our ego. Courage is required because we will face the thoughts and feelings which we pushed deep into our subconsciousness to keep ourselves from feeling the pain of things that occurred in our past.

Let's have the courage and discipline to meditate.