The Tendency Toward War - Gangaji

When you are called home, when you are somehow struck by
the absolutely mysterious and irrevocable desire to know the
truth of who you are, then you must be willing to put aside
every story of separation.  Every story of separation is a story
of war.

Human beings have been making war in every culture for a
very long time.  Culture is a reflection of the individual mind,
and the individual mind is a reflection of the cultural mind.
Since you are reading this, I assume you are interested in
peace in your own mind.  You are not waiting for "them"
to make peace.  This is good news, because war is fought
to get others to do it our way so that we can be at peace.
When you stop waiting for them, instead shift your attention
to your own mind, then you can recognize the tendency toward
war in your own mind, the tendencies of totalitarianism, hate
revenge, and holding on.  And you can recognize the suffering
that those tendencies continue to deliver.

Somehow, in the face of it all, you find you want peace.
You are sick and tired of the war within your own mind.
You only need to accept the invitation of your own heart,
regardless of outer or inner circumstances, and let
yourself sink into the peace of your innermost Being.

Unless all of us take responsibility for our own inner peace,
the wars will continue.  We cannot wait any longer for
someone else to change.  We cannot wait for someone else
to forgive us so that we can forgive them.  We cannot wait
for someone else to say they are sorry.
Peace cannot be postponed.

Gangaji

From - The Diamond In Your Pocket

via - The Beauty We Love

~

"Separateness is an experience in the field of unity."

Joan Ruvinsky
From - The Recognition of Our Own Heart

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Winter's Jewel - Mandala Art...

“The flame of Consciousness is the Essence of your Being…
Recognize that the flame of Truth is yourself…
Discover directly, for yourself, the jewel
that is alive within you.”

Gangaji
excerpts from:
 The Diamond In Your Pocket

~

“What if the task is simply to unfold,
to become who you are
in your essential nature….

which is not dependent upon
discovering a better method
of prayer,
or technique
of meditation;
not dependent upon
reading the right book
or attending the right seminar,
but upon really seeing
deeply…

…spiraling down into the ache
within the ache,
reaching inward and opening
outward
to feel
the kiss of the Mystery…

Dance with me in the
infinite pause
~
before the next
great inhale of
the breath
that is breathing
us all into being.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer
excerpts from:
The Dance

~*~

The above mandala looks 3-dimensional
but it's all one flat surface and
was not digitally enhanced.
The design has the affect of
of rising out of the darkness
from using the black paper...

~*~

To see some of my other mandalas
click on the links below

Infinite Cosmic Waves

Meditating Monks

Windows Into Infinity

Medieval Mandala

Who Are You.....Really?

I found this beautifully inspiring video...

It was words I needed to hear,
to Remember…
May they inspire you too…

Video by: Kosi

The voice is Gangaji

After Awakening - Keep Dancing

Many of us on a “spiritual path” have had many moments of “awakening" – little openings that allow us to *see* the Truth of Existence. I wrote the insights, that eventually became this blog, on scratch paper last December as I sat in a doctor’s office waiting for my appointment. Insights, or “awakenings” can come anywhere at any time. As I waited in the waiting room I reflected on how it seemed that I had been very *invested* in my spiritual search for “enlightenment” – for many, many years. It had been my life’s work, so-to-speak. In a sense I gave up “my life” (or what I call “my life”) for the search – *believing* the search for finding “awakening” was all that mattered.

There is an abundance of Non-Duality teachers and teachings out there, and what appears to be a lot of wrangling over semantics. Last Fall I was drawn to read Scott Kiloby and Jeff Foster – two of the top Non-Duality teachers. In doing so yet another door opened in this life-long search for Truth, except that it wasn’t what I expected. They revealed what I had heard from other spiritual teachers, like Adyashanti, Ganagaji, Eckhart Tolle, and Jack Kornfield – that there is just ‘This’ – Life living Itself in this present moment as it is. That there is no need to seek for“enlightenment” because it’s all just ‘This’ (Consciousness, Presence, Awareness, the One) *in* everything. And yet - we seek - until we don't need to seek anymore.

When I heard it this time I felt the full realization of it, as if for the first time. Something opened up and let it in. And, at the same time, I felt like a child that had been told there is no Santa Claus – well not quite as devastated, but certainly there was an impact that is difficult to articulate. I became unsettled, unnerved because the illusion had been shattered. If there is just ‘This’ and if I’m not *searching* for “It”, I thought, what will I *do*? My *mind* wanted to stay in search mode, after all that had been its “job” for quite some time. It had *identified* with the role and story of a “me” searching for "It."

In the past when I had heard spiritual teachers say – It’s just ‘This’ – I internally responded with: You’ve got to be kidding! That can’t be true! There has to be more than This! This can’t be it! I thought for sure that “enlightenment” had to be a big deal with Light shining everywhere, blinding me. But when I *heard* Scott and Jeff say, it’s just ‘This’ – Life living Itself, on some level I knew it was the Truth. It was taken in and absorbed like a healing elixir. Something inside awakened.

The word “ubiquitous” arose while I was sitting there in my seat, waiting, jotting notes. I didn’t know what it meant, so I made a note to look it up when I got home. (For those like me who don’t know, it means being everywhere at the same time; omnipresent). After reading the definition I realized that what I had been searching for is ubiquitous – always there, everywhere – right here. ‘It’ was never anywhere *else* needing to be found. ‘It’ just needed to be *seen.*

And so it appears that “awakening” is in some sense very ordinary, especially when one *expects* there to be some kind of transcendence into Light – ascension into an ideal Divine state of another worldly nature - a future arrival at an end reward for all the searching. It also seems that we can have many wonderful “awakening” *experiences* and still not realize the Truth. I know. :) The “final realization” (if there is one) it seems, is more like a discovery of something we already know. Oh – ‘This’! There’s a realization that the search doesn’t matter anymore. All the wrangling over concepts like “self or no-self”, “path or no-path”, “duality or non-duality”, “enlightenment or no enlightenment” just doesn’t matter. I realized that the “spiritual search”, which had started as a longing in my heart, had become a delusion of the dream mind. And, that the ‘This’ that I was searching for *is* revealing Itself *in* the dream of existence everyday… It was like a subtle awareness – a quiet knowing awareness that the dream continues even after “awakening.” Eventually there was a peace in realizing this – a deep serenity.

While writing my notes I remembered the words to an old Peggy Lee song (well that dates me doesn’t it!): “Is that all there is? If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing.” But I wasn’t feeling a sense of resignation. It was more of a sense of rest, a resting in this new awareness.

I realized that when we really *see* that ‘This’ is all there is – the ever-present Presence living in form *as us*, we keep dancing - maybe to a slightly different tune, but we keep dancing in the dream - *aware* that it is the dream of Existence, dreaming Itself, playing the song. Life living Itself.

Just keep dancing with Life!

Heart Smiles - MeANderi
www.ASerenitySanctuary.com