A Mystic's "Spirituality" - a meandering...

Being an unapologetic "mystic" at Heart, since childhood,
means for me experiencing the living Presence of Life that
animates all life.  Some call that God, the Divine, The Beloved,
the Ineffable, The Mystery, Pure Consciousness, Infinite Being,
Spirit, Brahman, The Tao, the Cosmos, etc.  It has many
 names and forms. It means being able to see and experience
 "The Mystery" in the everyday-ness of life; something I am still
admittedly trying to be more aware of - to be more aware of a
 felt sense of The Sacred in the Entropy of world affairs, in the
chaotic mundane personal affairs of life circumstances as they are;
 the requirements of daily living; in the must do's and have-to's that
always find their way to the top of my list, and seem to drive my
life...

As a "mystic" I long to experience the depths of Ultimate Reality -
immersing myself in the depths of Meditative Silence, listening
to the Hush of "The Mystery."  Something I have missed being
 able to do over the last 2 years due to life circumstances.
It seems I am on a dark passage now...
Some  may assume a "mystic" doesn't experience the darker
 feelings and frustrations of life - but is always in some catatonic
 state with The Beloved...  That has not been my experience.
I try to experience the darker emotions within the context of the
Greater Reality as part of the totality of life experience...

Some feel that a mystic should have special insights or powers,
or visions, or is only interested in seeking "mystical experiences."
But for me it is not in "seeking" experiences (I have very few of
them that just happen), but being aware of and open to the movement
 of "The Mystery" within me, through its many expressions, living in
 the intimacy of "The Mystery" and at times experiencing an
intimate encounter with what I know to be "The Divine", like my
Epiphany back in 2013, or through meditative writings", and 
celestial songs (poetry) where sometimes the words just fall
 out onto the page - surprising me...

Mystical "spirituality" acknowledges the universality of what 
most have come to call "God", The Divine, or Buddha Nature,
not associated with any particular faith, religion or practice,
but transcendent truth - realizing that humans, at the very core of
their being, are both Divine and human, formlessness and form,
spirit in matter, Timelessness in time...

Wayne Teasdale, a 20th century Christian Mystic, and author of
A Mystic Heart says: "Mystic spirituality draws us into the depths
or our Being, where we come face to face with ourselves, our
weaknesses, AND with the Ultimate Mystery,  Spirituality is not
external religiosity, confined to ritual and liturgy.  It is a way of life
that effects and includes every moment of existence...  It is a disposition
to a life of depth..."

He goes on - "How we make the journey is what spirituality is really
about - finding our own path.  This means finding a way to
 [awareness of] the vast unlimited [mystery] of The Divine,
 the Mystery within.
We are created for this 'spiritual journey' - the direct and
immediate experience of Ultimate Reality, which knows everything
as ItSelf.  Being infinitely aware, it knows in a unitive and universal
fashion through awareness...  The spiritual journey is essentially one of
discovering the roots of our true identity.  It is a process of returning
to the totality of Consciousness, from which we have arisen." 
(Wayne Teasdale)

Mystic Meandering
2016

~

"We cannot live in a world that is interpreted for us by others.
[We must] take back our own listening,

use our own voice,
see our own Light"

Hildegard of Bingen

12th Century Christian Mystic

_/\_

Namaste

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

The Basket - Robin Wall Kimmerer

The marvel of a basket is in its transformation, its journey
from wholeness as a living plant to fragmented strands
and back to wholeness again as a basket.  A basket knows
the dual powers of destruction and reaction that shape the
world.  Strands once separated are woven into a new whole.
The journey of a basket is also a journey of a people.

Robin Wall Kimmerer

from: Braiding Sweetgrass

with thanks to Love Is A Place

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The "Spiritual Journey" Is Unique - Matt Licata

The "spiritual journey" is by its very nature unique...
It must be explored by way of primary, first-person experience.

Contemporary spirituality is filled with all sorts of ideas and
concepts about what it means to be "spiritual" and we must
find the courage to question even the most sacred of these ideas,
trusting the path of direct revelation as we come to have more
and more confidence in our own unique experience.  There
are infinite number of ways to open to, touch and enter the
mystery, and the right way for us might look quite different
from others, even our "spiritual teachers."

At some point on our journey, we might hear a call to set aside
the beliefs, teachings and practices we've gathered throughout
our lives and rest.  This "rest" is not passive, cold or resigned
but lit up from within...  we open to a more paradoxical 
invitation that comes roaring out of thundering silence.  Just
what this is must be discovered by each of us in the fire of
our own direct experience.  We cannot take anyone's word
for it.

In this "rest" we are taken inside a dimension of experience
where we honor the entirety of what we are - [we are] drawn
to bring more awareness to this dimension of experience.
Something mysterious, magical, alive and sacred is wired into
this moment by its very nature and carries the fragrance of the
holy.

...something is granted permission and space to emerge - exactly
as it is.  We are invited into a deeper, richer exploration of the
dimension of the soul; re-entering the state of pure wonderment.

Matt Licata

From: A Healing Space:
Befriending Ourselves In Difficult Times

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Journey - Henri Bergson

Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that
sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted
upon them from birth through social conditioning.  They begin
sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers.
Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them
a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their 
journey of awakening.  Each step of the journey is made by
following the heart instead of following the crowd and by
choosing [inner] knowledge over the veils of ignorance.

Henri Bergson
Daily Zen

with thanks to Whiskey River

~

Photo Mystic Meandering

 

The Desert of Our Own Silence - Ron Rolheiser

 The Belgian spiritual writer, Bieke Vandekerckhove, comes by her
wisdom honestly.  She didn't learn what she shares from a book
or even primarily from the good example of others.  She learned
what she shares through the crucible of a unique suffering, being
hit at the tender age of nineteen with a terminal disease that
promised not just an early death but also a complete breakdown
and humiliation of her body enroute to that death.

Her attempt to cope with her situation drove her in many
directions, initially to anger and hopelessness, but eventually into
the deep well of silence, that desert that lurks so threateningly
inisde each of us.  Away from all the noises of the world, in the
silence of her own soul, inside the chaos of her raging, restless
insides she found the wisdom and strength not just to cope with
her illness but to also find a deeper meaning and joy in her life.

There are, as John Updike poetically puts it, secrets that are hidden
from health, though, as Vandekerckhove makes evident, they can
be uncovered in silence.  However, uncovering the secrets that
silence has to teach us is not easy.  Silence, until properly befriended,
is scary and the process of befriending it is the soul's equivalent of
crossing a hot desert.  Our insides don't easily become calm, 
restlessness doesn't easily turn into solitude, and the temptation to
turn to the outside world for consolation doesn't easily give way
to the idea of quiet.  But there's a peace and a meaning that can
only be found inside the desert of our own chaotic and raging
insides.  The deep wells of consolation lie at the end of an inner
journey through heat, thirst, and dead-ends that must be pushed
through with dogged fidelity.  

Here's how Vandekerckhove describes one aspect of the journey:
'Inner noise can be quite exhausting.  That's probably why so many
flee to the seduction of exterior background noises.  But if you want
to grow spiritually, you have to stay inside the room of your
spiritual raging and persevere.  You have to continue to sit silently
 and honestly until the raging quiets down and your heart gradually
 becomes quieted.  Silence forces us to take stock of our actual
manner of being human.  And then we hit a wall, a dead point. 
No matter what we do, no matter what we try, something in us
continues to feel lost and estranged, despite the myriad ways of
 society to meet our human needs.  Silence confronts us with
 an unbearable bottomlessness, and there appears no way out.
We have no choice but to align ourselves with the depth in us.

There's a profound truth: Silence confronts us with an unbearable
bottomlessness and we have not choice but to align ourselves with
the depth inside us.  Sadly, for most of us, we will learn this only
by bitter conscription when we have to actually face our own
death.  .....before this surrender is made, our lives will always
remain somewhat unstable and confusing and there will always
be dark, inner corners of the soul that scare us.

But a journey into silence can take us beyond our dark fears and
shine healing light into our darkest corners.  But as
Vandekerckhove and other spiritual writers point out, that peace
is usually found only after we have reached an impasse, a 
'dead point' where the only thing we can do is to "pierce the
negative.'

In her book, The Taste of Silence, Vandekerckhove recounts how
an idealistic friend of hers shared his dream of going off by himself
into some desert to explore spirituality.  Her prompt reaction was not
much to his liking: 'A person is ready to go to any kind of desert.
He's willing to sit anywhere, as long as it's not his own desert.'  
How true.  We forever hanker after idealized deserts and avoid our
own.

The spiritual journey, the pilgrimage, the Camino we most need to
make doesn't require an airline ticket....  The most spiritually
rewarding trip we can  make is an inner pilgrimage, into the desert
of our own silence.

As human beings we are constitutively social. ...but there's a certain
deep inner work that can only be done alone, in silence, away from
the noise of the world.

Ron Rolheiser

with thanks to No Mind's Land

~

Photo - via No Mind's Land

Soul Windows - John O'Donohue, Ram Dass & D.H. Lawrence

When your soul awakens,
you begin to truly inherit your life.
You leave the kingdom of fake surfaces,
repetitive talk and many weary roles,
and slip deeper into the true adventure of
who you are,
and who you are called to become.

The greatest friend of the soul is the unknown...

Yet we are afraid of the unknown because
it lies outside our vision and our control.
We avoid it or quell it by filtering it
through protective barriers of
domestication and control.

The normal way never leads home...

John O'Donohue

~

The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal.
It can't be organized and regulated.

It isn't true that everyone should follow one path.
Listen to your own truth...

Ram Dass

~

However smart we may be,
however rich and clever or loving and charitable
or spiritual or impeccable,
it doesn't help us at all.

The real power comes to us from the beyond,
the unseen, the unknown.

D. H. Lawrence

~

Photo from the Internet

I'm still here... :)

There have been several people who thought that my last post,
"Good-bye Yellow Brick Road" was about, among other things,
saying goodbye to this blog...

There are no plans to quit the blog...
or take it down...

Just opening another chapter...

It may take on a different flavor,
challenging my own fantasies about "spirituality."

I still have things I want to post which reflect where I am
in my "evolution of awareness", which may be of interest.
I will still post what inspires me and hopefully you as well...
I may re-post some of my earlier writings if it reflects where
I am now.

I humbly thank you for reading here,
and thank the handful of those who have encouraged me
to keep posting, both in private and in public.  I am glad that
you find what is posted here inspiring and thought provoking...

Namaste

_/\_

As a friend recently wrote to me:

"The mind continues to Wonder.
but without struggle or need."

And another wonderful quote from a blogger friend - by Rumi

"I have been a seeker, and I still am.
But I stopped asking the books and the stars,
I started listening to the teachings of my soul."

goosebumps!

Wholeness - Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

You search to find what the heart has always known, that there
are no boundaries to love.  Finding this leaves us on the edge
of our own expectations unaware of the simplicity of the
unknown.  For so long we have searched hoping, expecting
to find something - a realization that was longed for.  Always
you thought there was something to seek, a journey to make.
Now you stand on the precipice looking over the horizon of
your self.

Here there is no seeking, no looking, nothing to reach for, no
path to follow.  But within there is an answer, not in form, but
in substance.  There is a bigger wholeness hidden, waiting,
watching from behind our thoughts.

The wholeness has an unexpected purpose.....from across time
and beyond space.  There is another presence, another pattern,
not hidden, but unrevealed.  There is a tender sense of Silence.
In the moment of our own silence we are welcomed.  We need
to allow the Presence to become present, not in defined
moments, but in a flow.  The river is here.  The Silence,
unbidden, is always present; nothing is defined or captured.
This world is infused with this "other" - steeped in timelessness.

In that Isness, everything is included.  You, The Beloved,
the object of your prayer, and the will to unfold the Eternal
into the present, to cross the borders of time and space, and
saturate the now with Eternity.

Yet there is no "other."
You waited for someone to come, always you waited;
always waiting at the bus stop for the bus that never comes,
because there is nowhere to go.  You are fortunate to
disbelieve everything.

The world spins around a place of Silence.
You need to enter that Silence, and wait in the
Eternal Presence, for The Eternal that is already here,

amused with our seeking, with our thinking God is "other."

We only struggle with our self...

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Sufi Mystic

Take from: Fragments of a Love Story

~

Photo - glass ball with bubbles

True Center - Ivan Granger

Sages of all lands keep reminding us that the spiritual journey
is a journey of awareness, and specifically Self-awareness.
It is not a journey of acquisition.
Or intellect.
Or adherence to rules.

It is not a matter of how many books we're read.
Or how many times we've read them.
The only question of any value is whether we've yet
recognized their truths... within ourselves.

It is not a matter of how often we pray.
Or how perfectly we enunciate each prescribed word.
The question is, have we discovered how true prayer
wells up within us of its own accord.

We may not approach the spiritual path as a matter of
superficial actions or brittle creeds,
but we also can become swept up in endless new ideas,
new flashes of insight, new pathways, new teachers.
This can lead to a culture of lifelong seeking that becomes
our comfort zone;
a culture that takes on the form of religion (or spirituality)
without actually discovering the true center...
What we seek is found only and always
in the Heart of the heart...

Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

(Ivan's words, my format)

~

Photo - Mandala Art digitally altered

For The Traveler - John O'Donohue...

Thought I’d share some photos of a little trip down the road we took today to open country to get away from the hectic life stream that surrounds us here in the burbs - to be in the unattached quietness of Nature…   Smelling the fragrances of earth blowing on the prairie wind across the prairie grasses, sitting in the utter silence of life under the expansiveness of the open sky opened me to inspiration again… In our travels we even found a little pond with croaking frogs hidden among the marshy grass.  Under each photo is an excerpt of a poem by John O’Donohue, called “For The Traveler”…

"Every time you leave home,
another road takes you
into a world you were never in."

"When you travel, you find yourself
alone in a different way,
more attentive now
to the self you bring along;
and how what meets you
touches that part of the heart
that lies low at home."

"A journey can become a sacred thing.
…free your heart of ballast
so that the compass of your soul
might direct you toward
the territories of spirit
where you will discover
more of your hidden life
and the urgencies
that deserve to claim you."

"When you travel,
a new silence
goes with you,
and if you listen,
you will hear
what your heart would
Love to say."

Excerpts from the poem: “For The Traveler”
by John O’Donohue

From the book: To Bless The Space Between Us

Threshold - Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee...

In silence we become and then unbecome,
 know and are unknown.

For so long we have searched…..hoping,
 expecting to find something.

Always you thought there was something to seek,
 a journey to make. Now you stand on the precipice,
 looking out over the horizon of your self,

and you know it is otherwise.

Here there is no seeking, no lover lost and found.

There is no looking, nothing to reach for, no path to follow.

But within there is an answer, not in form but in substance.

The source brings something beyond the passions
 of day-to-day life to the surface,
 something we need to nourish rather than define.

There is a bigger wholeness hidden,

waiting at the corner of the moments,

watching from behind the thoughts.

You wait for something to happen,
 and there is nothing to happen,
 yet the happening comes closer,
 like a map that reveals your own garden
 as an undiscovered place,

that comes from across time and beyond space.

There is another presence, another pattern,
 not hidden but unrevealed.

There is a tender sense of silence…..

In the moments of our own silence we are welcomed,

as both stranger and friend.

We need to allow the presence to become present,

not defined in moments, but as a flow.

The river is here.

The silence, unbidden, is always present.

In the tranquility of the moment nothing is defined or captured.

This world is infused with the other,
 steeped in the dew of timelessness.

Just Isness.

In that Isness everything is included –

you, the Beloved, the will to unfold the eternal into the present,

to cross the borders of time and space,
 and saturate the now with eternity.

Yet, there is no other…

You were always alone but you thought it was
 a state of incompleteness.

You waited for someone to come,
always waiting at the bus stop for the bus
that never comes,

because there is nowhere to go…

You wait at the threshold of the other world,

struggling with your self…

when the other world is already present.

The real mystery is how IT unveils itself
within us;
how the Beloved makes ItSelf known
to ItSelf
in the fragile container
of the human being.

In the midst of
The Divine Drama
there is a human story…
But it’s all God’s story
being lived in form.

Excerpts from: Fragments of a Love Story

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Sufi Mystic

Please note: I have taken excerpts from various pages
of the book, put them together and created this prose poem.

Journey of Discovery...

"Discovery is a place that doesn’t know,
doesn’t evaluate,
and is willing to see what is.

Discovery sees beyond conflict
to an open realm of possibilities.

Discovery enables us to let go
of the filters of our past
and the blinders
of our expectations.

Discovery perceives
no right or wrong.
only inquiry
and
creativity.

Discovery turns
frustration
into
fascination
and work
into
play."

Thomas Crum
The Magic of Conflict

"Your soul knows the geography of your destiny…
It will take you where you need to go,
but more important
it will teach you a
kindness of rhythm
in your journey.”

John O’Donohue

"It is a journey towards simplicity,

towards quietness,
towards a kind of joy
that is not in time.
It’s a journey that
takes us from primary
identification
with body and psyche [mind],
to an identification with God,
and ultimately beyond
any identification."

Ram Dass

A Mystical Spirituality...

Being a “mystic”, for me anyway, means experiencing the living Presence of Life that animates all life.  Some call that God, The Divine, Pure Consciousness, Infinite Beingness, Spirit, Brahman, the Tao, etc.  It has many names and forms. It is being able to see the Sacred in the every-day-ness of life – something I admittedly am still “working” on – meaning - I am trying to be more *aware* of the “Sacred” in the mundane affairs of life, in the requirements of daily living; in the must do’s and have-to’s that always find their way to the top of my list, and drive my life...  Learning to actually *see* that it's all “The Mystery” living ItSelf here - as I believe it is; that it is the play of the Infinite Cosmos.

A Mystical Spirituality pertains to direct communion with this Ultimate Reality.  We are always in communion with Ultimate Reality, whether we recognize it or not.  Some may assume this means that a “mystic” doesn’t experience the darker emotions, or frustrations with life.  Some feel that a “mystic” has special insights or powers, or visions, or is only interested in seeking “mystical experiences.”  But for me it is not in *seeking* experiences, but being open to the movement of “the Mystery” and its expressions, *living* in a sense of mystery, and at times experiencing an intimate encounter with what I know to be “The Divine”, like my “Epiphany” back in November, or through “meditative writings” many years ago, and poetry that sometimes just spills out onto the page.  Mystical spirituality acknowledges the Universality of God/Christ Consciousness, or Buddha Nature within, which is not associated with any particular faith, religion, or practice, but is a transcendent spirituality – realizing that humans are both “Divine” and human, both form and formless, spirit and matter.

Wayne Teasdale, a 20^th century Christian Mystic, and author of A Mystic Heart, says:

 ‘Mystical spirituality draws us into the depths of our Being, where we come face to face with ourselves, our weakness, AND with the Ultimate Mystery.  Spirituality is not external religiosity, not confined to ritual and liturgy.  It is a way of life that affects and includes every moment of existence…  It is a disposition to a life of depth…  Mystical spirituality is profoundly transformative when it inspires in us the attitude of surrender to “The Mystery,” to the spiritual awakening of mankind…” 

“How we make the journey is what spirituality is really about – finding our own path.  This means finding a way to the vast unlimited consciousness of The Divine, to The Mystery, (or Buddha Nature) within.  We are created for this ‘spiritual journey’ – the direct and immediate experience of Ultimate Reality, which knows everything as ItSelf. Being infinitely aware, it knows in a unitive and universal fashion through awareness of non-duality and non-separation, of no distance between ourselves, the Ultimate Mystery, and all other beings…  The spiritual journey is essentially one of discovering the roots of our true identity.  It is a process of returning to the totality of Consciousness, from which we have arisen.” 

 “Everything is part of an undivided wholeness where each being reflects this totality.  Non-duality means ‘not-two’, and yet, ‘not-one.’  That is, in the relationship between Divine Reality and human being there is a subtle distinction, but not a separation.  And so the relationship is said to be non-dual.  Human beings are *essentially* Divine.” [or Buddha Nature, or Pure Consciousness, etc.].

In a sense then, Easter points us, not to “redemption”, but to the “revelation” of our “Divinity”, or True Identity – discovering again what is already here, that which we were never separated from, but have not always recognized:  the Infinite that continually shines in the depths of our being - as our origin. 

~

“We cannot live in a world that is interpreted for us by others.
[We must] take back our own listening,
use our own voice,
see our own Light.”

Hildegard of Bingen.

12^th Century Christian Mystic

~

Photo: a "mistake" :)

Have no clue what this was.
Digitally colored.

The Journey of a Lifetime...

The Journey of a Lifetime
© Paula Finn
Blue Mountain Arts, Inc.

“You’re on the journey of a lifetime…
A journey no one else will travel
and no one else can judge -
a path of happiness and hurt,
where the challenges are great
and the rewards even greater…

You’re on a journey where each experience
will teach you something valuable
and you can’t get lost,
for you already know the way by heart.

You’re on a journey that is universal

Yet uniquely personal, and profound
yet astonishly simple ~

where sometimes you will stumble
and other times you will soar.

You’ll learn that even at your darkest point,
you can find a light – if you look for it.
At the most difficult crossroad,
you’ll have an answer – if you listen for it.

Friends and family will accompany you
part of the way,
and you’ll walk the rest by yourself…
but you will never be alone.

Travel at your own pace,
There’ll be time enough to learn all you need to know
and go as far as you’re meant to go.
Travel light.
Letting go of extra baggage will keep your arms open
and your heart free to fully embrace the gifts
of the moment.

You may not always know exactly where your’re headed,
but if you follow the desires of your heart,
the integrity of your conscience,
and the wisdom of your soul…
then each step you take will lead you to discover
more of who you really are…”

© Paula Finn

Soul Windows...

“When your ‘soul’  (Consciousness) awakens,
you begin to truly inherit your life.
You leave the kingdom of fake surfaces,
repetitive talk,
and many weary roles,
and slip deeper into the true adventure of
who you are,
and who you are called to become.

The greatest friend of the soul is the unknown…

Yet we are afraid of the unknown because
it lies outside our vision and our control.
We avoid it or quell it by filtering it
through our protective barriers of
domestication and control.

The normal way never leads home…”

John O’Donohue


~

“The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal.
It can’t be organized and regulated.
We can only keep turning to our Hearts,
listening to what feels right...
It isn’t true that everyone should follow one path.
Listen to your own truth…”

Ram Dass

~

Photo:  This is actually a photo of a curtain on a window
I digitally played with the colors and got this affect
of a building with windows – albeit distorted -
reflecting, for me anyway, that there
are many windows of the soul
we have yet to
open...

Do What You Need To Do...

“One day you finally knew
what you had to do,
and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice;
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles…

“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

It was already late enough,
and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do -
determined to save
the only life you could save.”

The Journey
by Mary Oliver

Photo: Shadow of knive handles in a knife block holder.
To me it gives the appearance of an outstretched hand,
as if inviting me to follow…

PS: I am not suggesting anything morbid here!
Just thought the shadow was interesting...

*

I love this poem, and am letting it speak for me.
I know I have posted it before,
in fact in August of last year
when faced with family drama.
I’m apparently going in circles. :)
It seems appropriate to post it again
 for where I am now
and the pull I feel on my life -
as I go through another cycle of letting go
of the ego-centric dramas of my life
and fully awaken to the True Self…
Maybe this year… :)

Blue Elephant Innocence...

The other day, after I entered the grocery store, I spotted a BIG Blue Elephant out of the corner of my eye headed my way. Well actually, a man dressed in a big blue elephant suit, but my Heart saw – BIG BLUE ELEPHANT! Oh Boy! In that moment Innocence returned like a forgotten joy. Oh – there you are! I must have misplaced you! Welcome back! I remember this feeling. It’s familiar. It seems like it’s been gone a while, on some long trip somewhere to a far away land as I “grew up” and became an “adult.” I rather liked the remembrance. My heart lightened. I gave the “Blue Elephant” a little wave with a big grin on my face– forgetting I am now 60. My Heart evidently thinks it’s still 3 or 4 - maybe 5… The Blue Elephant waved back. At least that’s how my Heart perceived it: Big Blue Elephant waving – and I lost my sense of self for a moment. I have no idea what the man underneath the suit must have been thinking as I waved. But as he passed by me and left the super market he waved at the other “adults” entering too. They grinned, and some waved back. I hope their Hearts were lightened like mine. Amazing what a little playful innocence can do…

I’ve noticed lately that my “spiritual journey” seems a little heavy, a little too serious maybe… Maybe you’ve noticed it on your own journey. I’ve been guru surfing on the Internet, reading everyone’s view of the “Truth.” The words, concepts and ideas *about* Truth, Freedom, Consciousness, Awareness and Being sometimes feel like a distraction to actually *seeing* what’s really here – the simple Innocence that permeates everything. Isn’t that really what the “spiritual journey” is about - *experiencing* the simple Heart of Innocence. Isn’t that what Pure Aware Consciousness is? There’s that mind again, trying to name what can’t be named – trying to get a handle on what “It” is - when really my Heart doesn’t care what “It” is, it just wants to play with “It” – to *experience “It!” My Heart remembered its Innocence and now wants more.

Ever since my True Heart cracked open – unexpectedly – with my brother’s skiing accident 2 ½ weeks ag0, I seem to be more aware of *feelings* – the innocence of feelings - and feeling more open and vulnerable as a result. Everything seems to touch me more these days. And since my “Blue Elephant” moment I’m ever so *slowly* letting go of the need to see life through the mind. I’m noticing the True Heart stir with just little touches of Innocence here and there. It’s the simple things really. It might be the splash of sunlight coming through the window hitting the room in a certain way, a rainbow from a glass prism hanging in the window splayed across the floor, or a shadow formed on a wall through a “crystal ball” with a snail looking on, or the sight of geese out the window flying low, honking their call. The other night it was the surprise of a huge raccoon in our backyard. I marveled as I watched him dig little divots in the lawn as he dug for who knows what… Bad raccoon – Bad… Yet, Innocence was pleased beyond measure.

It’s amazing seeing through the prism of Innocence once again…

I hope that you are touched by Innocence too, and your Heart will remember its song… Who knows, maybe you’ll have a Blue Elephant moment. :)