Loving Awareness

Letting go

Posted by matthew on January 8, 2008  |  64No Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2008%2F01%2F08%2Fletting-go%2FLetting+go2008-01-08+11%3A15%3A53matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2008%2F01%2F08%2Fletting-go%2F

You may have noticed that amidst the bustle of the holiday season, it’s easy to forget the turning of the seasons. Beyond gift giving and family, we have a fundamental connection as living being to this earth, and its movements move us. The wintry season with long nights, hibernation and repose, offer us time to reflect, re-evaluate, and release. Without dark nights, we would not awaken to a day that is new and transformed from those in the past. Letting go is emphasized by nature in this season, and listening to the nourisher of life on this planet provides deep nourishment in itself.

The essence of compassion part 2

Posted by matthew on January 2, 2008  |  6621 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2008%2F01%2F02%2Fthe-essence-of-compassion-part-2%2FThe+essence+of+compassion+part+22008-01-03+02%3A13%3A40matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2008%2F01%2F02%2Fthe-essence-of-compassion-part-2%2F

The topic of compassion is of course very close to the purpose of this site âs it is an aspect of Love. However, this was instigated recently by the ‘Spread the Love Now!’ project of Wade of The Middle Way, Kenton of Zen-Inspired Self Development, and Albert of Urban Monk.Net. This site, as the ‘About’ page shows, has two writers, and we thought we’d each contribute something to this. So there are two articles about compassion, one for each of us. This topic is, after all, central to the purpose of this site – why else would we call it Loving Awareness?

If you haven’t read the previous entry on compassion, please do so. I’m going to add to it, starting with the first comment as a basis question – on the subject of child abuse. It’s a very good question, and representative on most people’s initial response to thinking of compassion in terms of awareness and acceptance, rather than having a duty to do something to solve a problem. I realize this is a touchy subject, and that what is written here may be controversial because of the massive cultural pain that exists. However, bringing compassion to such a painful area brings a huge amount of clarity to how it is applied in the world.

The essence of compassion (channeled)

Posted by matthew on December 29, 2007  |  6528 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F29%2Fthe-essence-of-compassion-channeled%2FThe+essence+of+compassion++%28channeled%292007-12-29+20%3A19%3A37matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F29%2Fthe-essence-of-compassion-channeled%2F

The following is channeled material on compassion:

Let us speak to you today on the topic of compassion. Understand that when we use this term, we would like to refer to it as ‘an expression of Love’. Compassion is, in our perception, a melding of one’s energy with another’s. A combining to create something new that didn’t exist before. This new creation of energy as a combination of yours and another’s unites you, creates a bond between you. Over time, this act of creation between two people takes on a life of its own in some ways. But regardless of the length of time of the melding of energies, there does exist to varying degrees an understanding, awareness, acknowledgment, and acceptance of the state the other is in at that present moment. This acceptance for the state of another, whatever state that may be, is what we see as compassion.

Trusting Perceptions and Higher Communication

Posted by matthew on December 26, 2007  |  636 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F26%2Ftrusting-perceptions-and-higher-communication%2FTrusting+Perceptions+and+Higher+Communication2007-12-26+16%3A21%3A49matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F26%2Ftrusting-perceptions-and-higher-communication%2F

One of the most fundamental aspect of any growth or spiritual path is the trust in one’s own perception. There is no question it is an incomplete perception; so long as you have a body, you will not see even a minuscule fraction of the totality of the universe, or that of your Self. But it is still your perception. It is your link to your soul. It is the basis for all growth, for if you rely on someone else’s eyes and intuition, you are not living your own life, discovering your own Truth, but are being a guinea pig for other’s experiments with Truth. As J. Krishnamurti said,

“All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.”

The Law of Attraction Part 2 – Beyond Abraham / Hicks

Posted by matthew on December 16, 2007  |  581 Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F16%2Fthe-law-of-attraction-part-2-beyond-abraham-hicks%2FThe+Law+of+Attraction+Part+2+-+Beyond+Abraham+%2F+Hicks2007-12-17+00%3A30%3A43matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F16%2Fthe-law-of-attraction-part-2-beyond-abraham-hicks%2F

Much has been said about the “law of attraction” elsewhere, particularly relating to channeling from Abraham/Hicks and The Secret. This is our own channeling on the subject from entities on the causal plane, recorded live, and really addresses some of the disempowering aspects of what is commonly known.? Press play below to listen to part 2.

The Law of Attraction Part 2 - Beyond Abraham / Hicks [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can listen to this via iTunes via this link:

Contact us!

We did not do a transcript for this, but would love feedback. Do you prefer having the transcript? Are there non-personal channeling questions you’d like to ask? Any general topics you’d like? Disagreements. Any suggestions, feedback, questions to channel, or ideas to write about are completely welcome. You can use the following form if you’d prefer to send something privately, or use the comment feature!

Interconnectedness of being

Posted by matthew on December 7, 2007  |  6015 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F07%2Finterconnectedness-of-being%2FInterconnectedness+of+being2007-12-08+06%3A08%3A38matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F07%2Finterconnectedness-of-being%2F

If you look at life like a poet, seeing beauty in the simplest things, you do not need to go anywhere to find beauty. You can see that within manure, a flower is waiting to be born. It is not in the future as an abstract concept; it is there now, in its fullest potential. Within an acorn lying on the forest floor is a magnificent flowering tree. If you listen closely, you can feel the tree whisper to you from inside the acorn, with its majestic tranquility. Within a storm inflicting damage on a community is also the breathtaking beauty of sun squirming its way through the clouds to a new dawn, bringing new energy and a re-creation of what we thought was perfect, but has new perfection to expand upon us.

This potential also works with emotions and relationships. Within a storm of a relationship where there is deep division and conflict, there is also a great empathy waiting to unfold. This is because there can be no compassion without understanding, and to find understanding we must experience. You cannot have empathy for someone’s violence without having experienced the urge to lash out yourself. And it is through empathy, or love, that we transform the world. Peace does not come from imposing rules of peace; it comes from living peace. This applies within relationships and activism equally.

The interconnected nature of the universe applies to me in particular in my own journey. This being is within me:

Feeling the weight of someone’s body on top of me, I shut off. How could this happen? How can I let this happen? I shall never trust the world again. I shall keep kicking until I no longer feel a weight on top of me. I shall never trust myself again. I shall never trust the world again. I hate being a child, for helplessness is the worst of all evils.

This being is also within me:

The child breathes contentedly in utter trust, feeling the warmth and support surrounding me. I am helpless, but within that helplessness comes the ability to invite help. Everything I need is here now. In utter vulnerability, I let the world touch me and the fullness of it brings utter joy. My helplessness is a gateway to feeling the love around me. I trust completely.

The two beings are of course one; they are me. Within the vulnerability of a childlike state is also the ability to be traumatized, and within the ability to be traumatized is the ability to heal, learn empathy, transform the world, and live a life of Love. Nothing needs to be done to ‘transform’ one into the other; they are both inseparable. They are me.

In thinking about healing, we usually focus on the loudest voice. The hurt child screams loudest and we rarely hear anything else, so we think that’s all there is. We lose awareness of the joyful child that is present in the moment and has never left us. And it is awareness that transforms â???? not counseling, medication, or even diving into the pain â???? but simple awareness. It is through awareness that all aspects of ourselves are reconnected and integrated. It is how compassion is learned; seeing how interdependent we are.

Whether within one’s Self, in relationship, or in society, there is a great interdependency. The pain cannot be without the joy and compassion. A pauper cannot exist without the ultra rich. There would be no destruction of the rainforest without all the world participating in its consumer patterns. This is not simply the link of cause and effect; it is a deeper connection on the level of being. You are the environment of the world, you are the disparity of wealth, and you are both the joys and pains that exist in you and without you.? Invite this in; it is the gateway to living a live filled with peace.

Emotions as beauty itself

Posted by matthew on December 2, 2007  |  5915 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F12%2F02%2Femotions-as-beauty-itself%2FEmotions+as+beauty+itself2007-12-03+04%3A41%3A45matthew1561948290

For this post, I’ll include more of my personal journey: that of dealing with emotions. I’ve always been someone who has had had very intense emotions to deal with, especially those related to my past sexual abuse. Because of this, many emotions have come at any and all times, without apparent ‘reason’: at work, in relationships, light social times, and with family. Without any visible reason or sense, at least in the immediate context, it’s easy to hold judgment about strong emotions in our culture. It can appear to make others uncomfortable.

This isn’t particular to sexual abuse; it is quite common to anyone sensitive and emotionally open, dealing with pain in any way. Emotions are emotions. They don’t make sense. If they did, they would be thoughts, not emotions. The heart has reasons the mind knows not of, and never will. Our need to make sense greatly depends on how allowing we are of the emotion. A grand sense of joy flittering like butterflies across our hearts when we see, for example, kittens playing with string for the first time, won’t require much sense. And yet, when it comes to ‘negative emotions’, such as pain, fear, anger, self-hatred, or a mix of them that could be called inner conflict, we often simply don’t allow them to come forward as naturally. We want reasons, explanations, labels, and hopefully a way to protect ourselves against them appearing again. This is the illusion of control reasons give us.

To me, how this manifested was a desire to expunge all the emotions. They obviously caused problems, so it made sense to want to get rid of them. I thought of them as a water well containing nothing but poison stored there from all the past pains in my life. So I tried to ‘get it out’ as much as possible, whether it be via counseling, venting, punching pillows, or even meditation and trying to transform myself in that manner. Eventually, things would be ‘clear’ and I would be more ‘balanced’. Of course, things didn’t work that way, because implicit in all these actions was a fundamental lack of love for those emotions â???? which creates even more negative emotions to vent. The perception that there was something wrong with me created more problems. The never-ending process continued. Thinking there was something wrong with me because I had pain simply created more pain.

A different way of looking at them instead is what was channeled to me recently.

At this time, perhaps you would like to think of your emotions, instead of something you need to get out and express, think of them as art, as a creation that you are constantly perfecting. They’re not finished yet, but you see their beauty in whatever state of creation they are in. You don’t need to share it even, because they are so beautiful. Bring this creation, all the beautiful colors that you know, and all the love you have inside you, for you love this creation. It is the most beautiful creation you have ever made, and you derive great satisfaction from the process of creating it. Take your time. Use visuals if that helps. Look around you. Find elements of what you see that perhaps might be included in this creation of yours. You will know it when you see it – anything that needs to be included. Have fun with this process, for it is yours. It is the first thing that’s truly belonged to you.

This brought up much tears in me, because it went to the heart of who I am: an expressive person with an intense of love of beauty and art. And if I do not see myself as a work of art, then of course there will be a lack of love for Self. Corresponding to this was indeed a visual image of moving and surreal color, much like the movie ‘What Dreams May Come.’ We see art and beauty in Van Gogh, Dali, or other artists who express darkness or ‘craziness’. After all, it’s on the page and there are skills involved. However, there is an implicit dismissal of the skill involved in simply allowing emotions to come to fruition and expressiveness in this society. There is tremendous skill in this. We see this in movies, on the stage, of an actor being very true with emotions, but it is easy to discount this in ourselves. This is not the same as being able to pick the right words and expression of them. It lies simply in being those emotions, in allowing them fully.

As I reach new levels of allowing of my emotions, I’m encountering vastly new perceptions of my life and my past, and even hidden memories. Finally remembering who crawled into my bed at night, the helplessness, shame, impotent kicking, and a split of consciousness that persisted into adulthood. There are, of course, many emotions connected to this journey, much like any prisoner might feel after coming into sunlight after thinking a cell block was home for many years. There is frustration, there is helplessness, and yes, there is self-hatred. I’m finding this isn’t a contradiction in any way to loving myself. It has its own beauty; a disconnected aspect of myself that’s screaming from years of being walled away. There is beauty in goth designs, and there is intense beauty in these emotions as well. They are a valid journey home.

Love, especially for ourselves, isn’t a thing or something to gain, or anything to ingrain into our minds through writing a million affirmations or reading thousands of blogs. It’s a perception – an awareness. Shifting how we look at something, especially ourselves, creates transformations. In fact, every transformation is precisely a change in perception. There is nothing but this, because there is perfection in everything, including intense pain. In the case of emotions, my experiences have created a subtle yet powerful difference in my experience in them. There is wonder in these emotions, simply as an expression of what is. The simply perception of beauty in utter vividness is, in the present moment, more loving than a thousand affirmations.

The law of attraction, Part 1. Beyond Abraham.

Posted by matthew on November 26, 2007  |  573 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F26%2Fthe-law-of-attraction-part-1-beyond-abraham%2FThe+law+of+attraction%2C+Part+1.++Beyond+Abraham.+2007-11-26+18%3A59%3A55matthewhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F26%2Fthe-law-of-attraction-part-1-beyond-abraham%2F

Much has been said about the “law of attraction” elsewhere, particularly relating to channeling from Abraham/Hicks and The Secret. This is our own channeling on the subject, recorded live, and really addresses some of the disempowering aspects of what is commonly known. Press play below to listen:

The Law of Attraction: Part 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can listen to this via iTunes via this link:

The transcript of the session is as follows: (this is for reference, but it is highly recommended you listen as there is much more connotation available when hearing the spoken word live)

We’ll start with basics. In the universe in which you reside, of course there are certain ‘laws’ that operates. There are certain agreements made on a combined level among all the people in the universe. Everyone has agreed that this is how things operate and this is the way reality will operate. This is what you refer to as ‘laws’. Gravity, for instance, is one. It’s a physical phenomenon. But it doesn’t have to be â???? you have chosen to make it this way. This is our reality, this is how we’re going to operate, so we’re all ‘cool’ with this. When you say the ‘law of attraction’, there is a fair about of truth to that, because that is what you have chosen as part of the collective reality that you have all built.

However, we see some problems with the oversimplification of this concept that has been presented recently. Obviously this as a concept has been in existence ever since all the people who wished to human decided to create the reality in which you now live, which happened a long, long time ago. We would like to restate some of what is known as the law of attraction in order to clarify some matters. However, as we said, this will be a 3 to 4 part series, and we would like to give the first of those parts now.

We would like you to think about your lives not necessarily in terms of things accomplished. Which what we realize how most people in your society view their lives. Instead, we would like you to begin to view your life in terms of experiences. All of you come pre-loaded, as it were, in each lifetime with some experiences you wish to encounter. Along the way, you make choices to either ditch some of those or to add new ones. All of you do this all the time â???? there are constantly choices being made depending on who you’re meeting up with and what agreements you are making, reneging, etc. So there is always this constant interplay of agreements, choices or decisions being made. All of these, of course, are experiences that you have. Now you may choose to grow from these experiences or may choose to disregard them entirely. Those choices are always up to you. If you choose to grow from an experience then, chances are next time you can move on to a new kind of experience. If you choose to ignore the experiences, then chances are you will continue to present yourself with the same type of experience over and over.

The law of attraction, then, is a little bit like that. You know, they say (‘they’ meaning whoever the scads of people are that teaching what is the law of attraction), that you attract to yourself what you give energy towards. Again, this is a gross oversimplification, but in terms of what we just said regarding experiences, you can see there are elements which really sound similar. In other words, if you choose to present yourself with an experience, and you choose to ignore that experience, or ignore the growth potential of the experience, then you will continue to most likely present yourself with similar experiences, so as to eventually see what growth there is from that type of experience. This feels a lot like attracting the same thing to yourself, over and over again. But it doesn’t really work that way on an energetic level, meaning that ‘the more you give energy to something, you’re going to get back the same thing.’ No, because everything you do, everything you do in life, is always a choice. There is no magic universal energy that decides to bring good things or bad things to you. It is always you choosing to have experiences, and you choosing to make something of those experiences, if you choose to make anything at all.

Another point we wish to make is in terms of, again, another perceptual difference. It is true that many of you perceive life, your lives, the lives around you and the universe as a whole, as a place that’s rather forbidding, and a place you have to resist because it’s going to act against you. You realize that this mindset comes of course from fear, a place of not accepting reality, of not accepting the fact that you choose your life, and not accepting that everyone else is really making their own choices and not thinking that much about yours. So the concept of creating your own reality again has quite a bit of merit, but that has been oversimplified as well. Yes, you are creating your own reality, you are all collectively creating reality all the time, you are always making choices. And when we say ‘always’, we mean that within each breath you are constantly choosing, 1) continue breathing, 2) operate your body as you have, 3) to perceive things the way that you do, and not to change it in an instant, which of course you have the ability to do. Believe it or not, you can change your perception like that (snap) if you want to. Typically you do not choose to do that, as there can be other repercussions from a choice like (as there are repercussions from every choice) that that might create difficulties and further perceptual problems that may be one day uncomfortable. So you might not choose that. But you are always free, of course, to make any choice that you wish, and as such, are always continuing to create what exists around you and create who you are inside.

This is part 1 of a series and will be continued!