Loving Awareness

The Void

Posted by matthew on November 11, 2007  |  537 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F11%2Fthe-void%2FThe+Void2007-11-12+06%3A39%3A52matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F11%2Fthe-void%2F

The following is channeled material we recently brought through:

Question: There is a concept across many traditions of inviting or surrending to ‘The Void’. What exactly is ‘The Void’, and what is the process of surrendering? What can be gained by it?

A simple way to describe the Void would be absence of all expectation. In other words, a total acceptance of what is. Not what could be. Not what should be. Not what might be â???? but simply what is. We have noticed that the concept of accepting what is is paradoxically simple, yet inherently complex. It is difficult for the human, caught up as you are in the illusions of life as a human, that is, possessing a body, interacting with others and perceiving things simply on a physical basis, to consistently recognize that there is so much more, and yet at the same time so much less than what it is they perceive. To be completely immersed in the Now, then, requires such a large degree of trust that one has no need to manipulate reality to become anything more than what it is.

The void, then, is again the absence of all expectation and a complete immersion into all that is the present. This ‘all’ must include, of course, all your dreams, desires, pain, love, and humanness. So a complete acceptance of all these things takes place for one to take place in the Now. Simple, yes? Yet when you consider each element, each one seems to bring with it so much more, so many issues, so many requirements of your time and energy and thought, that it seems impossible to divorce yourself from those in order to reside completely in the present. We remind you, then, that there is no need of course to separate yourself from all that you are. There need only be the joyful expansion of your perception to embrace all that you are into this one present moment.

Surrendering, then, to this absence that also includes everything requires, as we said, an enormous degree of trust. You must trust yourself. You must trust your perceptions. You must trust that you are not truly separated from any part of you. And you must trust that this joyful expansion can actually take place. We invite you, then, to dip one toe into the Void this time with us.

Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Place your awareness, if you will, on a spot located on your forehead between and above your eyes, often referred to as ‘the third eye’. To enhance sensitivity you may likely massage this area. While breathing comfortably and deeply, bring your awareness then to this spot. And as you do so, notice how it grows. It grows to encompass all that you are, all that you ever have been, and all that you ever will be. Notice too the sense of love and acceptance that comes simply with this noticing. Embrace all your former selves and all your future ones. Breathe them in and allow them to take stronger presence within your present self body. Trust that all these selves hold for you the information you most need to know right now. You may or may not ever be consciously aware of this information, yet it is yours at this moment. Breathe in again and let out that breathe, letting go of any expectation of what any of these selves bring you. You feel it leaving your body. Place your hands over your heart, and seal in that awareness to hold within you forever.

By regularly exposing yourself to the Void, you increase your conscious awareness of your own trueness and all the potential that lies within you at all times. In other words, by learning to surrender you become a more complete and whole person.

It is often implied that the fear of death is the basis for all fears, and that it is by experiencing a form of death that true transformation can occur. How does the Void relate to this fear of death and the transformation referred to?

The concept of death is indeed a frightening one to most people. We would say that it is no accident that there are parallels between the concepts of death and the Void of which we speak. In each case, that spark within you that is You is always maintained despite outer transformations that are taking place. In the case of what you refer to as death, it is simply the physical body that transforms. Everything else about you â???? your hopes, desires, dreams, and memories â???? are still retained, and always are a part of the You that you are in this life. There is an aspect of death to the transformation that occurs when one surrenders completely to the Void, but again, that inner spark of You-ness is always retained despite external transformation. The transformation that occurs when one surrenders to the void is not one that is necessarily physically apparent. Yet it is one that allows the fullness and completeness of you to emerge as if to play.

It is the fear of transformation itself, then, that is the root of the fears of death and the fear of surrendering to the Void. It is natural to attempt to hold on to what one has been, for that is all one knows. However, if you alter your perception so that you can embrace all that you will be, your fears of transformation, whether from death or from surrender to the Void will be eased.

If you have questions you think would be good to get channeled answers for, please leave a comment!? Thank you!

The nature of community (Podcast!)

Posted by matthew on October 21, 2007  |  494 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F21%2Fpodcast-1-community%2FThe+nature+of+community+%28Podcast%21%292007-10-22+06%3A52%3A19matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F21%2Fpodcast-1-community%2F

Announcement: This site is now podcasting!

The podcasts will be a growing library of channeled and non-channeled material related to this site. If you’re not familiar with channeling, it is essentially how information was accessed for Conversations with God, the Seth material, and the material surrounding the Law of Attraction. It is quite natural, and most people channel without realizing it. Essentially, channeling means connecting to beings on other planes of existence – and usually beings with enormous awareness, compassion, and love. Every time we connect with these being we’re filled with such vision, and from there we try to bring it into our every day lives. Hopefully these podcasts give a more direct glimpse of what we’re involved with. So let’s get started. This time – on community!

Podcast #1: The nature of community

Click the play button :

The nature of community [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There’s so much more to offer from listening to the voices, but for reference, here is the transcript:

The nature of community and what we can do to help build it.

We would like to remind you this evening that at all times each one of you is concerned with building, creating, maintaining, and living in community. This is the largest part, we would say, of the human experience, for without others, there is no interaction, there is no growth, there is no experience, and there is no Love. Although, we hasten to add that Love of course exists whether or not you experience it through others (through your interaction with others), or simply alone though yourself and your own introspection and perceptions of the universe. So we repeat again that it is the creation, the building, and the maintaining of community that takes up the majority of the human experience.

If we were to define community, we would define it thusly: Community is the combined spirit of those involved. It is very simple. That is all it is. Since each of you possesses within you the vastness of the universe, each of you brings this to all the myriad communities of various sizes and composition that you take part in. Therefore each of you brings a completeness to all the communities in which you participate. However, it is the nature also of being human that you experience separateness and isolation. This often brings within you a great sense of sadness that can be pervasive and difficult to see through. There are, then, operating within each of you, two seemingly opposing forces. One of the creation, building and maintaining community, and the other of stark isolation and separation. We would say that it is this seeming constant struggle that occupies many of you for lifetimes. Especially as you gain experience and knowledge through the reincarnational cycle, you bring with you each time you incarnate additional memories of what existence is like when not in human form. It is during those times that you experience the sublime sense of connection with all that is, and this dim half memory accompanies many of you as you incarnate in human form. There is resistance, then, to living life on Earth (as you see it in your perception), resistance to allowing yourself to become immersed in the experience that you are having. While on the one hand this presents you with many unique and often interesting challenges, there is as we said an accompanying and pervasive sadness that also can plague you.

We would offer you, then, some tools if we may, to help you see through the mask of isolation that you have wrapped yourself in, and to help you feel a connection with all the communities that already exist within and around you, and as a part of you. In fact we offer the thought that even hearing these words, or reading them, may help transform your perception to a degree where you can allow yourself to acknowledge the community that already exists. There is no need to strive to build community and create something which already exists. You have community because you are human. That is your community, and allowing yourself the perception of being totally here, now, will allow you possibly to sense the completeness and the perfection of the community that you are already a part of.

Changing the subject slightly, we wish to point out that in common usage for most of you, the word ‘community’ is really more what we would term as a ‘group’, meaning a collection of people, possibly like-minded people, or people moving along a certain path to a certain degree together. However, when we say ‘community’ we like to bring it down to its basic element, to commune, meaning to be one with, and to remind you now and forevermore: Every time you hear this word ‘community’, you will be reminded on some level that you already posses a oneness with all that is, and there is nothing you can do to separate from that oneness. So if you should hear at some point, talk about ‘warring communities’, you can smile a little at yourself, thinking ‘that’s ridiculous’, because community means a oneness with all that is, and how can one single thing possibly be at war with itself? And again you will be reminded that because of your humanity, you are already one with everything else there is.

Question: The follow up question is more in terms of conscious recognition of this state. Group dynamics are more of a co-creative atmosphere. In other words, it is not simply the individual that promotes the recognition of the interconnectedness of all. So what are productive ways to go about promoting this as a group consciousness, seeing as that we are already connected and one with each other, but we can certainly learn something on living it?

If it is your desire to be a part of various groups that operate at what we loosely say as a ‘higher level’ of awareness than other groups that you may be involved with, we would suggest then that if possible, you engage in some energetic exercises together as a group. We are somewhat amused by the image of the members of say, large corporations all standing out in an empty parking lot doing jumping jacks. And while that is an exercise that could be performed that would help raise this group dynamic, this consciousness if you will, there are many ways of promoting exercises on a group level that would also have the same desired effect. In essence, any time you can get a group of people of doing essentially the same thing at the same time will have that effect, whether it is jumping jacks on an empty parking lot, rooting for the same team, ganging up on someone in an online discussion group, or joining a social networking group in order to send ‘energetic tendrils’ to one another. Any time a group of people is performing essentially the same action at the same time it will have this effect. The more of these actions that can be performed, the more changes are enacted upon the group, and the more intricate the dynamic becomes. We would say also to remind you that each group of people has its own consciousness to some degree that is separate from the individual consciousnesses that make up the group, and it is the nature of this consciousness to change, evolve, and transform, just as your own does. This ‘consciousness’, if you will (and it is not a perfect term by any means), can be altered under many conditions. It is most preferable, as we said before, to do this under a combined group effort, but a group consciousness can be altered by a single individual who is part of the group, simply from their own desire to enact changes upon the group’s consciousness. You have likely seen this in action.

Changes to a group’s consciousness can also occur as the result from reverberations from situations and occurrences that happen to other groups around the globe. There is, of course, a rippling effect throughout all of humanity, from any occurrence anywhere. Certain types of occurrences have a greater degree of effect on different types of groups. The permutations are too numerous to go into at this time.

All of this, of course, is part of the interplay under the general framework called Love.

the allowing of pain.

Posted by matthew on September 1, 2007  |  38 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F09%2F01%2Fthe-allowing-of-pain%2Fthe+allowing+of+pain.2007-09-02+00%3A52%3A10matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F%3Fp%3D3

All of you have likely heard talk about the universality of Love. It’s in many places, from the Bible saying “God is Love” to various newer teachings. For instance, the most famous quote of A Course in Miracles is :

“The opposite of love is fear, but what is all encompassing can have no opposite.”

According to this, the universe itself is composed of nothing but love. And yet our experiences seem to be full of things which do not appear loving. Others may treat us with disdain and rudeness, and we ourselves may experience emotions such as pain, anger, despair and grief that we think are as far from the experience and ecstasy of love as can be. And yet, if the universe itself is made of love and we are part of the universe, then logically we ourselves should be made of nothing but love. So why do we experience such intensely negative emotions such as pain, when love is supposed to be ecstatic?

It at this point, let’s go beyond the labels we have for these emotions. Labels keep us fixed into a relatively small concept, and in fact there are wide differences between two people for the same experience of an emotion. If looked at deeply, there is a fullness within every emotion that most people do not even glimpse. In fact, each emotion is not a limited experience – it’s an entire spectrum, much like the light that comes to us from the sun. And like light, there are even huge swaths of the spectrum that we cannot even see. In fact what we know of as pain, for instance, is but a small area of the spectrum available of this one basic experience, but a small part of the expansive range open to us.

To go into more detail, let us now take a look at pain. To use the analogy of the body, pain serves a very useful purpose. It lets us know when there is something important that we need to focus on. If we are being stabbed by a sharp needle, for example, it is good to take immediate action to remove the needle from our body. Sometimes the pain is more chronic and speaks of long-term actions necessary to create a healthier environment in the complex system that is our body. So to put it simply, pain is a good thing. However, if we think of pain only as an enemy, and therefore do not listen to it, it is quite possible that the symptoms will grow exponentially larger until we reach the point where we see nothing but the pain. It is not pain that is the problem, only our experience of it and our reaction to it.

The inward experience of emotional pain is similar. It serves a very useful function – it lets us know what needs to be listened to and transformed. When fully allowed, this can be a truly transcendant experience. In most cases we see, of course, it’s misery, but to give a wider picture of what pain can look like, it is useful to think of it again as a spectrum. Here’s a table showing a range:

Blocking A complete void. Overwhelmed with pain; wishing death Alone; lost in pain, blaming others. Bonding with others through sharing pain. Recognizing pain as an impetus to start caring for self. Fully listening to pain to help transformation. Allowing Transcendence.

All of these come from the same basic internal energy, that which we label ‘pain’. In this one emotion, there is a universe of difference in the experience. And yet the experiences are intricately intertwined; in each moment of meeting pain there can be an instant shift into another mode of experience. The only difference between the states listed above is the degree of allowing we have for the pain – which is the degree we make pain our friend, becoming one with it. Being completely in the present moment, in an ever-fulfilling process of allowing, opens us to the entire range. Resisting the experience will tend to move us to the more blocking side of the spectrum. Normally we sway back and forth a fair bit, even for minor pains!

Both ends of the spectrum are of course connected. Numerous accounts, such as Eckhart Tolle, exist of completely giving up in the pain of existing, surrendering to ‘the void’, and then dramatically shifting to an ecstatic experience of transcendence.

How does this then relate to love? Most people think of love as an emotion. If this were so, it would limit Love. Love itself is not an emotion. Love is the entire spectrum. Think then, that pain is not seperate from it; pain is part of that vast spectrum. Love is a complete allowing of everything. It includes pain, joy, anger, longing, connections with others, and all human experience. Love in some way can be likened to the space through which light can pass. It is Love itself that provides the allowing that enables pain to be the complete blessing that it can be, if it is surrendered to. If you think to a time where you sat in front of someone you knew loved you, it was at a time when everything in you was welcomed. This included all your emotions, all your thoughts, all your desired; it was all invited and allowed. Why then should loving ourselves be any different?

This of course in no way minimizes the paralysing agony that pain can be, or is it in any way saying people are “responsible for their pain”. It takes experience and wisdom to trust the process of allowing and surrendering to an experience, and most people need much support to do this. That’s what friends are for, after all. Still, I hope by looking at pain this has given a glimpse of possibilities that exist in every moment, inside every emotion.

PS. There’s an online group aimed at discussing concepts like this and integrating it into our lives which I’m a co-owner on. If anyone is interested in it – which does involve time, exercises and experiments – please send me mail. And of course, comments and questions are always welcomed!

The ugly and short prince (story)

Posted by matthew on May 6, 2007  |  32No Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F05%2F06%2Fthe-ugly-and-short-prince-story%2FThe+ugly+and+short+prince+%28story%292007-05-06+18%3A17%3A00matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F05%2F06%2Fthe-ugly-and-short-prince-story%2F

Hmm, I guess people have gotten enough on the environment already – the comments numbers are significantly lowered. Anyway, here’s a story from the channeling of Michael by Karen Murphy. I find it wonderful and heart touching!

One upon a time, in a land where there was no time, there lived a prince. This Prince was short and ugly and awkward, and people made light of him behind his back. He knew this instinctively, though the people were careful never to show him anything but the utmost respect directly, and because of it, he was quite unhappy. One day this Prince decided to drown himself in a nearby river. He made preparations that involved placing several large stones in his pockets, filling them with weight that would keep his body under the water while he ceased to breathe. The Prince was very sad as he made these preparations, and for every stone he placed in his pocket, he remembered one small slight against him. Soon his face was covered with tears and he could no longer see clearly from the force of his weeping over all the ills that had been done to him, both real and imagined.

After a time, the Prince’s face cleared and he ceased his weeping. His pockets no longer felt heavy with the weight of the ills he perceived that had been done to him. Confused but still determined t complete the job he set out to do, the Prince entered the water anyway, remembering as he did so that he had placed the stones in his pockets and therefore should sink to the bottom. Or should he? The Prince was no longer sure. The Prince slowly entered the cold rushing water, walking toward the place where it was deepest. He knew he should be submerged soon, and felt relieved. Still, he remained in a state of confusion, for he felt strangely buoyant at the same time. Hadn’t he filled his pockets with heavy stones? Shouldn’t he be weighted down with the ills and troubles of his lifetime? Oddly, the Prince began to feel elation, andâ???.joy. The feeling was strange to him, but he knew it for what it was, instantly. No longer did he wish to remain at the bottom of the cold river until he ceased breathing, not if he could feel joy like this! But the Prince found that he could not walk further, could not return to the river’s banks. He felt rooted in place, made motionless by fear. Would his unhappiness return? Would he still be ugly and short and would people still make light of his appearance? He did not know the answers. He felt confused and strangely afloat with the motion of the water now flowing around him. He did not know what to do.

The Prince, now rendered motionless, felt his body relax. He felt the water flow around him, moving him slightly this way and that. He no longer, now, cared whether he sank to the bottom. He had surrendered himself completely to the motions of the water flowing around him, immersed as he was in the river. He decided to let go entirely, to allow his fate be determined by the river.

No sooner had he done this than he found himself standing on the bank, perfectly dry, pockets light as a feather. A group of his subjects approached, madly rushing to look for what they feared â???? that their prince was lying dead in the river. Joyfully they embraced him, knowing that he was safe.

The prince was, again, confused. Didn’t his people mock him behind his back? He did not understand.

“The Little Prince is safe!” the people cried. “Our beloved Prince is safe, bless, his little soul!”

As the people rejoiced, the Prince felt he began to understand. The words he felt behind his back about his appearance were words of affection, not of derision, and it was his own fears and insecurities that had led him to surmise otherwise. He had not followed his own heart in the matter.

So, too, must you learn to release yourself from expectations regarding those around you. Each of you is connected, yes, but while living life on the physical plane, so too must you keep your suppositions separate from those of others. In other words, if you take on the energy of others, it will define you. You must decide whether that is what you wish, or not. Do you wish to define yourself? Or to allow others to do so?

So, too, must you begin to remember what it is like to simply “allow”, to Be. You may find, then, that once you do so, what you most wish for will come to you without your having to try so hard to achieve it. You will find, as you do so, that worlds will open up to you that you never knew existed. Time will stretch and have new meaning. Colors may brighten, and the world may seem, in general, a more pleasant place in which to be, as your awareness of that innate connection among all things, and by this we mean ALL things, even, for instance, your computer keyboard or the window you gaze out of, as well as everything in the animal and plant kingdoms, is connected.

Stretch, then, your awareness to both the minute and the great. Realize that you are the heartbeat of the Universe, that you are the breath of Time. And, simply, Be. Allow your attachment to outcome evaporate, and allow the you-ness that is most deeply within you to rise to the surface and become the You that Is.

— Michael, May 6, 2007, channeled by Karen Murphy

Karen Murphy’s site is at http://light-spring.com/. She is a wonderful channel as well as a beautiful person – well worth her services when the perspective of channeling is useful. I met her a couple weeks ago and found such an amazing heartlink with her, *very* evident we had shared a large number of past lives. I paid for some channeling myself which I’ll get around to posting soon as well!