Loving Awareness

Interconnectedness of being

Posted by admin 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%3A38adminhttp%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.

Breaking through the chains of identity

Posted by admin on November 23, 2007  |  567 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F23%2Fbreaking-through-the-chains-of-identity%2FBreaking+through+the+chains+of+identity2007-11-24+00%3A25%3A10adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F23%2Fbreaking-through-the-chains-of-identity%2F

I had a question recently asked of me, which is what this article is based on:

How do you form new identities when there are expectations other people place, in terms of maintaining an identity? How do you find ways of letting go to holding on to that and allowing more of yourself to come through?

To answer this, let’s first look at what identity is. The etymology of the word comes from the Latin words for “sameness” and “over and over’. This in itself gives a good picture of it - a fixated pattern or image that can be repeated over and over. It can be looked at as a temporary protection against the unknown. Where there is the dark unknown and the feeling of helplessness come from it, then terror appears, and so there is a desire to control that comes from this. Identity is the standard result.

Because of the nature of interconnection mentioned in previous articles, identities are not isolated towers etched in stone. Your identity depends on the interactions you have with others, particularly intimate relationships. The degree of ‘sameness’ and repetition of behavior in relationships creates safety and protection more firmly than any amount of home security. Conversely, when someone’s behavior and identity fluctuates without agreement from everyone involved, a sense of betrayal and threat is often the results. When you question your identity, ripples flow outward that invite everyone surrounding you to also question their own identity. For some, this is incredibly fearful. To real degree, this can feel if one’s life is about to end – because in some ways, it is.

Identity, therefore, is central to the perception of isolation and separateness that human beings are subject to. If you hardwire your perception of Self to be a fixed collection of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, then you will automatically disconnect from all beings that are not this collection. You may see this in such actions as politics; the identity is so strong, so dependent on connections with others of like mind that the disconnect then it is quite likely that those on the ‘other side’ are disconnected from to such a degree that their humanness is no longer seen. When taken to its natural extreme, this can cause violence and wars.

The problems do not come from any idea of what you are, but always from what you are not. If you deny connections, whether to others or within yourself, you are in fact wielding a scalpel, surgically cutting yourself off from the universe. This is violence. This is an attack, both at the world and at the Self. There is no outward form of violence that does not directly come from this core split.

To work with this, we suggest an exercise adapted from Thich Naht Hahn :

When you meet something, instead of a label which implies separation such as ‘tree’, ‘house’, or ‘road’, state instead that you are what you see. ‘I am this’ is a good phrase, or a statement of ‘I am a tree’ when you meet one. Rather than this be something enforced on your mind, expand outward to breath in the essence of what you are seeing.

Another way to do this is via the practice of mindful eating. Your absolute interconnection is not simply with what you see, but everything that is connected to what you see as well. An example would be the eating of brown rice. (preferably organic!). As you are eating, feeling the soft fibers in your tongue, invite the perception that you are the rice, and that you are enjoying changing form to help preserve life. You are the plants in the field that produced this output. You are the workers that cultivated the food. You are the sunlight that gave life to this plant. You are the water that irrigated the field. You are the rain and sky that brought the rivers. You are the people that package and brought the rice to you. You are even the animals that ate from the field before it was cultivated. You are all that.

Imagine then, that with every bite you are taking, you are affirming your connection to the earth, the plants on it, the sun, the animals, and every human being interconnected on it. This connection is in every bite of food, and indeed in every breath you take. Living with this connection at a conscious level is an ever present source of joy.

In this exercise, the ‘who you are’ is absolutely inclusive, and thus without violence. There is nothing you are not, and thus nothing you have to use force to separate yourself from. This is where true power comes from. If you have difficulty feeling this connection in this exercise, then we suggest trying it again in a natural setting, where animals can be viewed. Animals naturally feel this interconnection as part of their way of being, and can be great teachers in this. Children can be as well.

‘Letting go of identity’ is therefore not a true letting go. There is in fact no need to let go of who you are â???? only to let go of the perception of what you are not. You may in fact be a professional, reliable person who doesn’t want to impose on others, but you may also be a human being who has pain inside and deserves the chance to make mistakes, get angry, and be wrong.

If you decide to undergo on the path of expanding your identity, take caution, for the ripples this path creates can create much reaction in others. In fact, we advocate asking those close to you for permission first, even if in your own mind or in a dream state. Leaving behind past shelters of identity is usually a terrifying undertaking, and it is good to prepare and gain support beforehand. But it is good to remember that it is always in the unknown that true experience of Love resides, and this is why terror is often experienced before Love is. And it is in the expansion of Self â???? not the destruction of it â???? that Love is experienced. Your awareness of identity can expand to where your identity is your family, the community, the earth, and the universe. This is in fact what is true at this very moment, and we invite you to rejoin with your birthright.

The Void

Posted by admin on November 11, 2007  |  537 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F11%2Fthe-void%2FThe+Void2007-11-12+06%3A39%3A52adminhttp%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!

That childlike state, and Love.

Posted by admin on November 6, 2007  |  5236 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F11%2F06%2Fthat-childlike-state-and-love%2FThat+childlike+state%2C+and+Love.2007-11-06+07%3A49%3A42admin754129290

This is also available via podcast.

That childlike state - and Love. [ 8:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There is so much we can learn from children. Most of us are disconnected from that childlike quality inside ourselves, that innocent state of joyful wonder that makes love for children so natural. In fact, we can think that that the only way to experience that state is vicariously through our children. We can restrict our boisterous play to only be in the company of children, and make sure we always make â??˜sense’ in the company of adults.

And yet, much of the education of children is really a movement away from wonderful qualities that would greatly serve society. By the time adulthood is reached, through public schools and the gauntlet of teenagedom, there can easily be layers upon layers of defenses, filters, and preconceptions that prevent the wonder of a child and guileless expression. We are taught a learning of accumulation of facts and how to act in such a way that is â??˜normal’. In spite of the tremendous value we know children have, we are in some way denying that value, by trying to exclusively teach them while not learning from them. We don’t see them as equals, as Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, author of “Nonviolent communication”, says in his article on raising children compassionately.

Children, in their simple wisdom of being who they are, have tremendous amounts to teach and remind us. How easy it is to break down in tears when a child touches your cheek after noticing some held back sadness. Being silly and unrestrainedly playful around a child is the most natural thing in the world. They remind us what is truly important in life. And what they teach us, via the characteristics they model, can be applied to all of life, not just our interaction with them.

To help see this, I’ve listed a number of characteristics young children have that we could all learn from. It is these characteristics that epitomize Love.

• Vulnerability. This is not only an absolute open sense of trust and visibility of self, but also the rapidity at which the task at hand takes complete focus. It is when a child (or adult) is most like themselves, without any apology or attempt to be anything else. True vulnerability always results in more openness, more allowing, and therefore, more Love. We feel this around children, and it is this sense that we respond to in children. A baby is completely vulnerable, completely open to the manipulations of life force around it, yet at the same time, is completely trusting that this process will result in continued life, growth, and for all intents and purposes, Love.

• Harmony. Children are not separate from their environment, their parents, or even themselves. If their parents are upset, they will feel it too. There is no intellectualizing the experience, no controlling of their actions. They feel the state of their surroundings, which includes themselves, and at the same time naturally move towards a balance. Because of this, problems do not accumulate. If they are upset, they scream. If they are sad, they cry. The next moment is often something completely different, as any parent knows!

• A sense of perpetual wonder. Simply mouthing the phrase ‘it brought me back to being a child again’ conveys this. Life is vivid, full of vibrancy and new discoveries behind every corner. There’s new ways of seeing and interacting with even familiar objects. Children have that sense of wonder because they’re completely present in the moment, immersed in the explosion of colors around them at every moment in humble appreciation.

• Exploration beyond “right” and “wrong”. As my previous post, The Beauty of Gray mentions, we tend to get locked into black and white thinking. Something is either good for us or bad, and all our interactions with it is based on this label we have. Children interact directly. And because of this, they are in a perpetual state of exploration. There is no “wrong” behavior – they see nothing strange about putting corn chips down your pants if the mood suits it. (I have personal experience with this!).

• Leaning through play. This is the utmost extension of the previous point. With nothing ‘wrong’, every action is playful. Silliness makes more sense than seriousness, because it voices the absurdity of trying to control and label all the experiences occurring. And learning occurs very quickly because of the open state of the child.

• Trust. There are no worries in a child’s mind beyond the immediate moment. There is simply a powerful trust that all they need will be there.

All of these states, of course, are as accessible to adults as they are to children. But for the most part, we have been educated away from such means of interacting with each other, and even with children. But this education can be discarded.

The next time you are with a young child, be a young child yourself. Don’t put on a mask of acting child-like, such as faces and ‘goo-goo’ sounds. Play as if nothing mattered. Relate to them from a place of equality, for they are teaching you as much as you are teaching them. Know that their vulnerability is at the same time incredibly fragile and immensely powerful, and that this dichotomy also resides within you.

‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, â???’

It is of course very humorous that millions of people have quoted the Bible on becoming like a little child without making any movement whatsoever towards that effect themselves. Being childlike is in essence the same as being full of Love. It is a state of playful unity and harmony to the surroundings, appreciating and welcoming the uniqueness of everyone in the world. It is a state of continual transformation with no end in sight. It is a state both of incredible fragility that comes from vulnerability and of incredible power to affect, like what you see in the eyes of a child.

It is you.

If you’ve enjoyed this, please look at our archives page. Or if you want to receive in your mailbox, please Subscribe to Loving Awareness by Email. Otherwise, if you want to, please share with the button below!

Connecting With Nature

Posted by admin on October 28, 2007  |  517 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F28%2Fconnecting-with-nature%2FConnecting+With+Nature2007-10-28+18%3A54%3A52adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F28%2Fconnecting-with-nature%2F

I’ve been thinking lately of my connection with nature, exploring that connection more deeply, especially following a recent and quite profound experience I had in the forest (and here’s yet another quite amazing one; can you tell this is a bit of a theme here?) and I invite you to think now about your connection with nature.

I suspect that for the most part we really don’t give this much thought. Nature is simply ‘there’, and our day-to-day awareness doesn’t often extend to a real connection to nature beyond, say, noticing the gorgeous deep velvety reds of the Japanese maple trees, or the clearness of the autumn blue sky that provides a backdrop to the clouds in a usually overcast sky. We notice these things, notice their beauty, even perhaps notice their perfection, but fail to go that extra step and really connect with it: feeling the trees and their dance of interconnectedness, bursting into bloom yourself along with the geraniums in the pot on your windowsill, becoming the bird intent on seed-gathering to acquire energy to store for the cold winter ahead. We don’t usually feel what it is like to BE an aspect of nature, even though we are an aspect of it ourselves.

By denying a true connection to nature we deny an essential aspect of Self.

There is tremendous value in connecting with animals, trees, and other elements of what we consider to be nature. These elements, are part of our home, part of our world, and are as such connected to us, to humans, in a very intimate way. We share space. We share air. We share resources. Not only that, but we share in the creation of our world, the global creation of the reality we know as life. And because of that there is an undying connection between us as humans and ALL of the so-called ‘natural’ elements of nature.

Think back to a time when you were connected with nature. For most of us this happened easily and naturally when we were children. True connection to nature is a childlike state, a natural state, a state of innocence. Rediscovering your own true connection to nature now will help you reach that state again more easily, time and again, and provide for you a spiritual home to which you can return over and over, always having this base of existence and perception to belong to. And being more often in a state of childlike innocence leaves us so much more open to vulnerability and openness in every aspect of our lives, allowing us myriad opportunities for growth and understanding.

But how can we re-connect to nature if we think we have lost this in the mundane aspects of living life?

It is not enough, for some, to simply state an intention and then order the universe to ‘make it so.’ New pathways of perception need to be forged, new roads to awareness.

For me, what has helped remake these pathways has been two things: being open and being present.

I invite you, then, to find your own corner where you can feel nature. This can simply be a spot near a sunny window in which you can feel the rays directly upon you, but feel free to use your yard, a park, any open spot where you can sit awhile undisturbed. There need be nothing ‘magical’ or special about the place, for truly, nature will find you wherever you are.

Sit comfortably in your chosen spot, then, and imagine the time when the things around you didn’t exist. There were no buildings, no electrical lines, no lawns, not even the trees you see now were there. Once, in time, things looked very different from the way they look now. If you allow it, you can imagine this time, for you possess a connection to it. It is in your genetic memory, in every cell of your body. Imagine each cell, then, unlocking this distant memory. See in your mind’s eye the immense past, every possibility, every moment of time, hanging between you and time’s dawn. You have access to all of it. Now notice the thread that runs through these pages that flutter in front of you, the pages of the past. There is a single thread that weaves its way through ALL of time, through every moment, through every experience, and that is the thread of nature, of our connection to the Earth and to every element of the Earth, every tree, every plant, every stone, and every living being. Keep looking and you’ll notice that this thread is connected to you as well. Do you see it? Can you feel it now, tugging gently at you, a little insistent, reminding you of your immense past, of your deep connection with All That Is?

There it is, then. Your connection to nature is there whether or not you have felt it all along. It is undeniable, this connection we all possess to one another, to the Earth, to every living being on the Earth.

The lessons from connection to nature are many and varied and often depend on the individual, but regardless of perspective there is always growth opportunity through human connection with nature. After all, it is your home. It is your life. To deny nature is denying an aspect of Self, and to fully embrace nature, to accept it in all its splendor, ugliness, and beauty, is a huge step in actually accepting your Self.

I invite you to embrace your connection with nature, then, to embrace the fullness of your humanity, which will in turn bring fullness to every aspect of your life.

The nature of community (Podcast!)

Posted by admin 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%3A19adminhttp%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.

Joy at all times

Posted by admin on October 17, 2007  |  4717 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F17%2Fjoy-at-all-times%2FJoy+at+all+times2007-10-18+06%3A44%3A21adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F17%2Fjoy-at-all-times%2F

Joy is a seemingly elusive and ephemeral quality in this day and age. So many daily actions are justified with a reasoning process involving a search for this distant state. Relationships, career seeking, and nights on the town often have this expectation, along with a corresponding anger and disappointment when joy is not found in them. Despair can appear when life’s circumstances appear to offer no possibility for joy. But what exactly is joy?

It is easy to label joy as a simple emotion, but it is far more encompassing than that. For instance, most people would not entertain the possibility of feeling joy and pain at the same time, and yet this occurs every moment of every day. It occurs sometimes for those suffering from a fatal disease, and it did occur in rare cases even amidst the horrors of concentration camps. So joy is not mutually exclusive from any experience.

In fact, there is a very common idea that one cannot feel joy and pain at the same time – or a combination of joy and other emotions such as grief, remorse, anger, terror, or rage. It is this preconception, seemingly paradoxically, that largely blocks people from joy. With this pre-decision already made, there are myriad circumstances justifying why joy is in the future, not now. Emotions exist that preclude joy, therefore work must be taken to resolve them. Financial stability must be attained to avoid fear, counselling must be sought to transform ‘negative emotions’, and a good stable relationship must exist for joy to be “won”. All of this, of course, is a never ending battle. Joy is not in the present moment, but always over that next hill, until the hills become mountains.

And yet, there is always the possibility for joy to intrude under any circumstance:

A common example would be someone caught in the elements. During a long walk home one day from a work event, a freak thunderstorm occurs. You are dressed formally and are first miserable because of your concern and disappointment of the effect the rain will have on your clothes. You rage at your helplessness in the face of the weather. You start to feel cold and are afraid you will get sick. You are filled with thoughts and emotions of what an awful experience this is.

And yet, in a blink of a moment it doesn’t matter any more. Like a child, you start giggling and dancing in the rain. A sudden feeling of exhilaration takes over you, and you skip and jump, splashing water left and right, and even jumping in the biggest puddle on the street to make a huge splash. The concern over clothes and the cold has not disappeared, but it has started to coexist with a quality of joy.

Did the rain cause this joy? Of course not. This joy was always there; it was simply that the rain gave you an opportunity to surrender completely to your experience. In this surrendering, you found a state of allowing of exactly what was going on in the present moment, and through this, innocence and joy.

Joy can indeed coexist with all experiences. There can be a joy in getting angry at someone who crosses healthy boundaries; it is not that you are enjoying punishing someone, but you are enjoying stating firmly what you want. The anger is part of your completeness. (See the post on The Innocence of Anger for further explanation). There can be joys in intimacies, or joys in surrendering to the experience of isolation and loneliness that comes from a relationship ending. Many great works of art have been created from this heightened state. Joy at its root is simply a state of surrender, of allowing. And because it is this, which is available at all times, there is no experience you can possibly imagine that has no room for joy in the midst of it. Some experiences take more surrender to reach that place, but this does not mean no joy is there. It simply means there is a lack of trust. Surrendering to the experience of a fatal disease requires tremendous trust, and this society is built on distrust. However, the potential is absolutely there even in such painful times.

There is, of course, a spectrum of joy, which relates to the experience of surrender and Love. The following spectrum shows a range of joys, from the most simple to the most all-encompassing.

Experience of Joy
Survival; a contentment at being able to feel and breathe
Connecting with others like you; a joy of basic community and being a part of something greater than you.
The joy of making an impact. Revelling in your desires without shame or control.
The joy of intimacy. Vulnerability and exchange, a truly opening experience.
The joy of childlike play. The world is full of innocence and wonder and there is freedom and communion with others in every moment.
The joy of awareness. The deep nature of interconnectedness with all beings is felt, and the joy shifts to simply being.
The joy of oneness. There is no longer any separation to experience, and thus all ‘problems’ are not seen as such, but simply as expressions of Love.

All of these states build on each other in greater allowing. Each level encompasses the previous one, without anything denied – so if you are not appreciating basic breathing and feeling alive, it will be impossible to appreciate community or intimacy. These states are available in every single moment in our lives, of course. From the most mundane office meeting to the most passionate lovemaking, and even to the most excruciating pain, there is a joy underlying the experience that simply is waiting to be surrendered to. This joy does not take away the experience, but provides support and awareness of it. Pain still exists in the midst of joy, but it becomes something to witness rather than be lost in.

It takes great courage to find this level of surrender even in the most trying circumstances. It requires diving off the cliff of being certain about the meaning attached to your experience, and into the unknown. Joy of course, is unknown, because it cannot be encapsulated by labels. It is beyond reason, beyond anything but the surrender of yourself to the state of not knowing – simply experiencing and allowing. And because this is all it is â???? the never ending flight that comes from taking that step off the cliff â???? it is available in every moment.

If you’ve enjoyed this, other posts you may also like include The Allowing of Pain (with a similar spectrum shown for it), and a previous post of a Table of Emotions – Allowing and Blocking states. And if you want to receive in your mailbox, please Subscribe to Loving Awareness by Email.

Consider this an invitation to joy. Breathe with us, Now, and enjoy it.

Reconnecting to Your Source

Posted by admin on October 11, 2007  |  452 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F11%2Freconnecting-to-your-source%2FReconnecting+to+Your+Source2007-10-11+16%3A12%3A41adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.loving-awareness.org%2F2007%2F10%2F11%2Freconnecting-to-your-source%2F

All of us, each one of us, is connected to one another. We each are created from, formed of, and connected to the same genetic source material. This is such a universal truth that it appears in both religious literature and myth alike. The story of Genesis and the formation of us as humans is part of us, part of our heritage as a people, and the truth remains: we are connected, we are One.

Then why the pervasive feeling of separateness, of disconnection from where and how we began? Why can’t we feel connected to our source, connected to others and to the Universe, at all times?

The answer is both simple and complex: we chose the separation, each one of us, yet we can have that reconnection if we so desire.

Separation is a way of allowing us to become caught up in the illusions of the life experience so as to present ourselves and one another with growth opportunities. Simply put, we learn from interaction from one another, and if there was no interaction, we would not evolve. It is impossible to learn all there is about being human simply from interacting with the self.

We learn a great deal through conflict. Conflict arises from a feeling of disconnectedness, and without conflict there is often little impetus to interact and grow from that interaction. While it is certainly possible and often preferable to learn from places of joy, it is difficult for us to remain in that state long enough to allow the growth to permeate us; when in Joy we often are simply caught up in the wonder and beauty of it and neglect to utilize that time as well to grow and learn. It is a very human trait, then, to require conflict in order to grow.

That is not to say that conflict is desirable, simply that from it springs much to build a lifetime of evolution and growth.

While separation is part of the design of human evolution and growth, it certainly is not the natural state from whence we came, and often we feel a longing to return to that state of utter connectedness yet fee we have lost the way to get there.

It is one thing to say and acknowledge, “I am One with you, we are all One,” and it is quite another thing to hold that belief inside us, in our hearts and even down to a cellular level. How, then, to get there? How can we hold that knowingness inside us, so that it may be present to comfort us, to guide us, to allow us to remain connected with all that we are?

It is really quite simple.

All you need to do is to allow the connection.

“Allow the connection”? What does that mean, in real terms?

It means stepping into that place rather than forcing your way in. It means holding the idea of being connected to source at all times, holding it within you as a real possibility. It means, also, letting yourself deserve that reconnection.

Let’s talk for a moment about what we deserve. We all are here on this planet on a level playing field, meaning that we all, since we are of course connected and part of the One, deserving of the same experiences, the same opportunities. You likely believe this on various levels pertaining to human rights, civil rights, and the like. We are One. But going to you, yourself, thinking about only yourself, do you give yourself the same opportunities for joy and happiness that you allow for others? Or do you see yourself as perhaps having to work a little harder, a little longer, for the same growth that you fully believe others are deserving of?

Do you really believe that you deserve to be connected to your inner source?

If you are human, then you are deserving of the human experience. Period. And allowing a reconnection to our source is certainly and most positively part of the human experience.

Again, then, allowing the connection to Source means letting go of who you think you are and letting in all the myriad magical possibilities of who you could be. For all those possibilities are also You. You are far larger than you perceive. In fact, you are not only who you think you are and the millions of imagined possibilities of who you are, but you are also all the yous that ever have been, all the yous who ever existed in your imagination or otherwise, throughout your entire life. All those possibilities, whether real or imagined, are all a part of the larger You that is. And when you acknowledge all those possibilities, acknowledge your Self in all its grand bigness and perfection, you allow connection to Source, for it is through the You that is that your connection exists.

It is through the You That Is that your connection to your Source exists.

And it is by allowing and acknowledging all your myriad possibilities, tens of thousands upon millions of them, that you regain your connection to the One that is you.