Faith

Sedona, Arizona

What is faith?  Faith is trust. We trust that if we surrender our belief systems, which define who we think we are, we will be in harmony with Universal Intelligence and fulfill our life's purpose, rather than descend into a pit of fear and despair.

It is called faith because no words can convince us of this Truth.  There is no scientific evidence which will prove it (although they are getting close!).  No teacher can adequately describe it.  However, someone who is awake can create an energy field of Presence.

We must take the leap and experience it to see the truth of it.  When we sincerely try it, we immediately glimpse a different reality.  Our interactions with people change.  We no longer feel a need to be defensive.  We listen without thinking of what we want to say next.  Our anger, fear, loneliness, and frustration start to lessen.  Peace, love and joy begin to permeate our being.

The more we do it, the more evidence we see of it and the stronger our faith becomes.  It is like a muscle that gets stronger with exercise.  Faith becomes a habit (a good one!).

Let's have faith to surrender to the Void.

The Choice

Cape Reinga, New Zealand

The most important choice we will ever make is whether we will continue our lives of fear, frustration and obsessive thinking about the past and the future, or live mindfully in the present moment.  There is nothing that we have to learn, accomplish or achieve to awaken.  No obstacles need to be overcome.  No training is required.

In fact, if we make the choice to live in harmony with Universal Intelligence, we can become enlightened in this very moment.

It seems too simple.  If it was so simple, why wouldn't we all be awakened masters?  The answer is that we are not aware that the choice is ours and the process is so simple.  We have hypnotized ourselves into thinking that following our belief systems is the only way to live.  The web of thought and belief is so thick, that we do not know there is another way.

If we choose to surrender our thoughts in this very moment, with the strong resolve that is necessary to repel the relentless pull of compulsive thinking, we will be in harmony with the flow of life, We will be fulfilled because we are living our true purpose. We will know peace.

Let's choose freedom.

The Upward Spiral Part 2

Qamea, Fiji

I tried to figure out whether my awakening was something that happened to me or whether it was something I just decided.  A few days later, I had an insight that it did not make a difference.  If true, this was a momentous concept.  If we could awaken just by deciding we were awakened, then any of us could awaken at any given moment.

Once we decide that we are awakened, we create a belief which becomes reinforced and stronger with each  moment.  When a thought of fear or anger appears, it goes against the belief "I am awakened."  We cannot hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time.  One of the beliefs has to give way.  The weaker belief will always surrender to the stronger.  When the fear or anger dissolves, our belief in our awakening deepens and strengthens.  The stronger our belief is, the quicker the weak thought dissolves.  The quicker the weak thought dissolves, the stronger our awakening becomes.  Thus an upward spiral is created deepening our awakening from moment to moment.

It could happen this way:

One day (could be today) we are feeling pretty good and we decide we have awakened.  The next day, we are having lunch with a friend and we tell her "yesterday I had an awakening."  She thinks, "Huh.  I have no idea what he is talking about."  A few days later, something happens which triggers fear in us.  As the fear begins to take hold of our thoughts and body, we think, "if I am enlightened, how can I be afraid?"  We can't.  The fear begins to fade before it can engulf us.  This makes us feel pretty confident.  Peace, love and joy start to permeate our feelings.  We start to do things which enhance and increase these feelings.  We might start to meditate more.  Different people come into our lives.  Synchronicities increase.  Our ego tries to take hold of it and feel superior to others.  We do not pay any attention to that.  Our awakening deepens.  After awhile, something happens which triggers thoughts of fear.  This time, those thoughts hit a solid wall of belief and bounce off before they can even begin to take hold.  We are now enlightened masters.

It is so simple.  Let's decide and declare:  We are awake.  We are enlightened.

Let's awaken now because the world needs enlightened masters.

An Upward Spiral

Kamakura, Japan

We cannot become enlightened in the future.  We can only become enlightened in the present.  If we are on the spiritual path, we will always be on the spiritual path.

When I had an awakening earlier this year and I occasionally told people about it, I became energized and animated.  Since then, every time I had a weak thought of doubt or fear, I remembered that I was awake and the thought immediately dissolved   Each time this occurred, it reinforced and deepened my awakening.  I would think to myself "Wow, I really am awake."  Knowing we are awakened causes us to overcome our fear and anger, which reinforces our awakening.  This creates an upward spiral.

According to Abraham Lincoln (at least in the movie!), the time is now, now, now!  The time to awaken is now, right this very moment, even as we are reading this post.  It is time to get off the spiritual path and be enlightened.

Let's embrace it and announce it, not out of ego, but from Truth.

Let's declare it: We are awakened.  We are enlightened.  We are Love.  We are Divine.  Let's create an upward spiral.

We are now awake.

Awakening

Waitete Bay, Coromandel, New Zealand

We all suffer from the same affliction.  It is the cause of our fears, depression, neuroses, bad habits, and psychoses.  The cause is our root belief that we are unloved and unlovable.  We try to avoid looking at our beliefs by dulling our consciousness with drugs and alcohol, sex, addiction to social media, video games, television, etc.  We avoid looking at our beliefs to protect ourselves from painful thoughts and memories.  Unfortunately, the unconscious beliefs wreak havoc on our lives as they bubble to the surface in different ways.

There is only one cure for our affliction:  spiritual awakening.

There are many roads to the cure.  For example, we can bring our awareness to our core beliefs without judgment.  We sit with it and allow it to be.  Once we fully acknowledge it, we surrender it to the Infinite Energy Source, or God.

Let's acknowledge and surrender our beliefs.

Awareness

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

What is awareness?  It is our attention without judgement, thought or belief.

If someone touches our arm, we put our attention there.  We also may think: "That hurts," "That feels good," "Why is this person touching me," "This person likes me," "Someone is trying to get my attention," and so on.

When someone touches our arm and we put our attention there, without any assumptions or judgment, that is pure awareness.  When we are in a state of pure awareness, we are in a state of grace.  Another way of saying it is that we are one with the mind of God.

We look at the world through a prism of our belief structures.  It is time to take off the blinders.  We can expand our awareness by being present and surrendering all of our judgments, thoughts and beliefs.

Let's surrender to the present moment.

Truth

Caterpillar, Sedona, Arizona

All religious and spiritual leaders throughout history teach basically the same truth:

When we bring our attention  (i.e., our awareness without judgment) to the present (i.e., in between or beyond our thought), we become one with our divine nature and fulfill our life's purpose.

Let's do that.  The more we do it, the better at it we become.