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Come meander with me on the pathless path of the Heart
in these anecdotal,
sometimes inspiring, sometimes personal meanderings of the Heart's opening in the every-day-ness of life...

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Epiphany...

It seems that my “spiritual path” has been laced with small “epiphanies” and “divine flashes” of awareness, and “mini awakenings” over the years.  I had one of those moments last weekend when standing in the backyard.   I had stepped outside to be in nature for a while, connecting with the stillness and silence – taking it all in - noticing and feeling the connection.   I was in the process of taking some pictures of the shadows that the late afternoon sun in November was making on the fence, when suddenly the words: “There is nothing but ‘God’” ran unbidden and unexpectedly through the silence of my being.  Say What!  There was an immediate sense of *profound* peace, contentment and joy in my heart.  I even started to giggle to myself.  But I was also completely shocked by the word  - "God"– and my very tangible felt experience of it.

I have not used the "God" language in *years*, after leaving the religion of my childhood some 26 years ago , as it holds imagery of my Christian upbringing of a person in the clouds with white beard, and separateness.   It has so many old paradigm, somewhat fundamentalist “religious” connotations from my past, which made it all the more surprising that this was the word that floated through.  If the “voice” had said: “All there is is Awareness”, or “Consciousness”, or “Pure Being”, I would have gone, of course! – as those are the words that I most often use. You could also use words like Buddha Nature, the Divine, The Self, Brahman, the Ineffable, The Eternal, or the Infinite.   But I was jolted awake by the clear use of the word “God.”  As this phrase ran through me I had the image of a deep golden light, like a sunset that ran across the screen of my mind, as if to show me the depth and vastness of the word.  As it wasn’t the persona “God” image of my childhood.  No, it was an incomprehensible sense of vast, expansive, all-inclusive, infinite, ubiquitous Presence, with which I felt an immediate sense of *inherent* communion – not one which needed to be sought after, but that was already actively happening…  And with that realization came a profound sense of Grace…

It was also realized that it doesn’t matter if there is a sense of a “me” or “no-me.”  It is inconsequential.  It is just realized that all there is, is Infinite Existence that just IS – no matter what name or qualities we give It…





“…one awakens to the simple truth
that there is nothing other than God.
We are always with God.
Even the idea of a “path”
is an illusion,
because
 everything
 is
 God.”


Lllewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Sufi Mystic



Go
 IN &
 IN & IN
until you come to
 the pure Self-luminous,
the place of pure Being.

…see that behind all ‘this’
there is all ‘this’ in its OM,
its unmanifested form.

See the OMness of everything…”


Ram Dass
Hindu Spiritual Teacher



The liberating Truth is not static;
it is alive.

It cannot be put into concepts
and be understood by the mind.

The Truth lies beyond all forms
of conceptual fundamentalism.

What you are is the beyond…
It is awake and present,
here and now
 already.”

Adyashanti
Zen/Advaita Spiritual Teacher

~

Top Photo:
 Cray Pas Pastel oils

2010



6 comments:

  1. Just wonderful Christine, yes to have had this experience is truly 'awesome', a popular word at present and over used I feel! But, to have had such an epiphany would truly be 'awesome' for me!

    I like the first quote, feeling so personally connected with God is so assuring...

    Your image evokes a spiritual connection, beautiful...x

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    1. Thank you Sue :) Yes, it was "awesome", awe inspiring, and incredibly profound to realize that we are all already "connected" beyond any doubt we may have, and all the struggles that we make to "connect" - no matter what name we give it. IT is right here, already happening...It actually left me speechless for several days! lol
      Love the photo of your big rose today! Beautiful.

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  2. What a gift! Cherish and remember it as needed. "All there is - is love." Somehow this Beatle song rings so very true now.

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    1. Oh yes, BASKING in it:) Yes, Love, indeed! More than we could ever "know" :) Thank you dearest...

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  3. "I have not used the word “God” in *years!*" Oh, how I related to this, Christine! For a long time I have identified as non-Christian, Buddhist mainly--having loosened from the tight Catholic upbringing I had. In recent months during a time of illness & unrest, I had some moments very much like you describe--a new meeting with the Divine, a vast Presence surrounding me, surrounding all. Moments of such grace washed over me in the depths of being unwell of body. And a bit like you experienced too, it was not the God of my upbringing--it was so much more! It has me re-acquainting myself with what the Divine truly is, and about that everything is in and of God...including me. :o) I feel that I'm on a new, unexpected path in my spiritual journey. Thank you for bravely sharing your experiences here! ((HUGS))

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    Replies
    1. Yes, me too! :) "A new and unexpected path opened up." It definitely was like a "new meeting with the Divine" and now a sense of "re-acquainting." One thing I have became aware of is the Divine (however we know This) comes to us in ways we can hear and receive, not matter what name. We just have to be open to it. And it seems that illness leaves us open... :) Thanks for sharing your experience here too! :) Heart Hugs...

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