In Difficult Times - Kathleen Knipp

Let go of the belief that 'I have to muscle this through' -
and let yourself be held...

This moment - if it could be different it would be different...

Everything changes...

Underneath the changing thoughts, emotions, beyond form
there is This - the unchanging, unspeakable Essence -
familiar as the breath - and a deep knowing that everything
is okay...  in the silence that is present, even as the soundscape
unfolds - a stillness that is present even as movement arises;
the silence and stillness that is Isness in all form...

Kathleen Knipp
gems from a Yoga Nidra Meditation
called: "A practice for difficult times"

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Epiphany - 2013

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
back in 2013 when standing in my 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 had not used the "God" language in years, after leaving the
religion of my childhood some 26 years before this, as it holds
imagery of my Christian upbringing of a person in the clouds
with white beard, meting out judgment.  It has so many old
paradigms, somewhat fundamentalist "religious" connotations
from my past, which made it all the more surprising that this
was the word that floated through.  If the inner "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 often

use, abstract as they are. I also have used 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, Alive 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 profound sense of Grace...

It was also realized that it doesn't matter if there is a sense of
a "me" or "no-me"; if one "concentrates" or not, or meditates,
or not.  It is inconsequential.  It was just realized that all there is,
is Infinite Existence that just IS - no matter what name or
qualities we give It...  or how we discover it for ourselves.

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
2013

~

Art: Mystic Meandering
Ethereal Vortex
Done with fingers and Craypas oils
2010

 

A Moratorium on Names - LaMotte

 I've been in love for seven million years.
It was always you.
Don't ruin it now by telling me your name.

Isn't it time for a moratorium on names,
so that we may finally see?

A moratorium on the name of God
and the word Peace,
until we learn to use them as verbs.
A moratorium on Love, so that this body
may be love's exquisite synonym.
A moratorium on Better, Worse,
on Sin and Hell, or Heaven too,
so that our eyes may grow
accustomed to the earth.

A moratorium on the names Christ,
Krishna, Allah, Yahweh,
so the "goddess" may have room to breathe,
and we may hear her inscrutable murmur
from the cavern of the prophet in each
human heart, her infinitesimal thunder
in a violet's bell, rung by a dewdrop.

Isn't it time to reinvent the tongue,
so the Ineffable may babble sweet
new names for the One Who Is?

[.....]

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Our Cosmic Vibration...

We are equipped with everything we need - right now.
There is no linear self-improvement program to
measure up to;
no spiritual standard to compare our progress with;
achieving lofty goals of "enlightenment" or non-duality.
Everything is open ended, boundaryless, freely fluid,
forever fluctuating - "enlightened."

The key - the one unchanging "truth" -
is Love - a Cosmic Love -
unborn, inexplicable Love;
an "un-dualating" energy vibration of Love
that just IS - that has always existed -
that is the gateway to
knowing our True Inner Beingness...

...into knowing
a truer Vibration that lies at the
Core of our Being;
the "mother energy" of our
Cosmology;
the place of no beginning, or ending,
no birth, no death,
only the Isness and Eternality of our Essence.

Dissolve into your Cosmic Origin...
Return to your "roots";
naked, Luminous, ever-present Love...

Entrain with the Maternal Heart,
where the ripples of Love
form and expand,
pulsating the Rhythm of Ineffable Love
within you ~

You will know it when you feel it...

Pure, untainted, causeless, objectless

Love ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our Cosmic Origin

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 2018

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

At the Core of Being...

At the very core of our Being
there is complete stillness,
a dynamic Stillness
of Being

~

Just Being

~

There is utter awareness
of all life, all existence;

the felt sense of
the ISness of Being,
of Life...

~

Living
~

In the Silence of this
dynamic Stillness
one is aware of
the cocooning hush
of "The Mystery",
of Primordial Existence
that holds the unmanifest
in the comfort of
Its Womb
before its birth
into form...

~
Resting

~

In this Stillness of Being
the rhythmic breath
of the Cosmos
pulses
like waves....

~
Calming

~

The originating cosmic energies
of an Alive Cosmos
generate themselves into time and space
spiraling outward from the Core;
like a stellar rose that gives birth
to itself through spiraling open
its petals...

~

 Blooming
~

All Existence is at
the Core of our Being,
IS our  very being.
In every atom, every cell...
We are the living Cosmos

~
Breathing
~

Existence lives itself
in a perpetual unfolding of Life.
The Core of Being birthing ItSelf

in and as us ~

The unmanifest manifesting
the formless into form

~
Replicating
~

At the Core of Being
there is only

Aliveness
Stillness
Silence
Peace
Love
Life

It is who we are...

~*~

Namaste

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
2015

~

Photo - Vortex Art
Mystic Meandering
2012

The Kiss of "The Mystery"...

There is an intimacy in the deep recesses of internal Silence
that is indefinable, inexplicable, inexpressible
and hauntingly sublime...

A fluidity of
light and color...

A movement of
The Grand "What Is"...

There is depth and breadth,
yet no boundary.

There is substance and fullness,
yet - Emptiness...

It is a subtle, rhythmic
intimacy of
Mystical Silence
that opens the Heart;
that embraces, surrounds
and fills every crack and
crevice of existence...
Unwinding the contractions
of
body and mind...

There is a "sanity" in this Silence
that bestows a soundness of heart through Grace
that is beyond mere mental comprehension -
beyond cognition...

Finding the deeper Rhythm within
one loses a sense of "self"
and becomes
The Silence ~

Breathing ItSelf...

knowing It Is:

The Breath of the Infinite

The Whisper of Love

The Kiss of "The Mystery"

Mystic Meandering
 2016

~

Photo from the Internet

The Aurora Borealis seems to take the shape
of a round face looking down, kissing the earth...

Exquisite Silence

Sitting in my chair one morning there was a sudden,
spontaneous awareness of exquisite Silence
 permeating the room.

It was a tangible Silence
pulling me inward - inviting me into its intimacy -
absorbing me...

Then mind said:
the faucet in the kitchen sink is broken,
gotta get a new faucet.

Silence silently said;
Follow Me...

Mind said: there are several piles of laundry
needing to be done.

Silence quietly said:
Be absorbed in Me...

Mind said: clean your house!

Silence merely said:
Be undisturbed...

And so I sat - within Exquisite Silence -
undisturbed, absorbed, at peace -

communing with Silence in silence...
sensing it, tasting it, feeling it,
experiencing it...

Delighting in the Silence of Being...
Like the way of "the ancients" - like Rumi
who knew the intimacy of the
Rhythm of Silence in his whirling...

Experiencing Exquisite Silence is
experiencing the presence of Pure Awareness,
the simple Isness of Being - just Being...
which is never disturbed by thought,
while thinking occurs  simultaneously...
It's just Beingness being what It is -
Silence...

touching you,
whispering to your Heart to come and be still -
to listen...

Exquisite Silence is the thread that runs through everything -
infusing all life with its Quietness...

Following the Silence takes you to the Eternal Ocean of Being,
where Silence continuously rolls in upon ItSelf,

wave after wave...

What ecstasy to be absorbed in Exquisite Silence...

I didn't want to move from my chair,
but to move only as Silence moved me...

Everything else can wait...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Sept. 2012

The Breath of Sacred Silence

Beyond all concepts of duality and non-duality
there is only the Breath of Sacred Silence...
Here is neither oneness or two-ness,
only the exquisite Rhythm of
the Infinite Breath
IN which Existence exists.

In this space
everything else falls away -
all breathing falls into The Rhythm
of the Ineffable - the Unknown -
The Mystery...

The inhale and exhale
of the Cosmos,
one Rhythm.
No longer aware of
separation,
only unspeakable Silence
breathing...

The mind tries to hold onto concepts,
through thought patterns,
thought processes;
an automated mechanism
that just runs,
creating scenarios of I/me/other.

BUT

Here - in the river of direct experience,
only the Breath of the Sacred breathes,
unencumbered by thought...

In this space of Grace
there is no sense of
union,
or dissolution,
or surrender...

One is simply - absorbed -
into the Ineffable Breath.
A natural, organic absorption of the whole being
in the ongoing stream of the
Pure Isness of Being...

The Ecstatic Mystery of the Breath of Sacred Silence...

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
July 19, 2018

One Underlying Undivided Reality - Brian Thompson

Life,
is sustained by life.

This,
is living.

We rely upon another.

There is no living,
outside of the continual process,
of our mutual interdependence;
which co-mingles with our pending
temporal dissolution.

Life is change.
Life is impermanence.

There is no being without non-being.
From nothing comes something,
and to nothing, all things shall return.

Life requires life,
for without this principle,
no-thing could possibly be.

Life is seen
only through its own reflection.

Our only experience
is that of ourselves.

There is only one life;
one consciousness, one awareness;
one spirit, one energy;
one source.

One life, being lived through infinite lives,
one life, being lived through infinite manifestations,
one life, as seen through infinite points of view.

One life,

appearing as an ever-flowing stream
of unique reflections.

Despite the infinite phenomena that appears to arise,
and no matter the myriad manifestations that seem to be,
there is only one underlying reality,
and it remains undivided,
empty of independent name or form,

pervading all that Is - and you are That.

One consciousness experiencing itself,
through all that it dreams into being.

Life is simply happening,
and you are That;
the essence in which
this present moment
is now happening.

Be not mistaken;
you are not subject to whatever happens,
for that is merely a conception of the mind,
a mental byproduct of the non-existent past.

What you are,
is the infinite field of awareness,
in which all happenings appear,
but you remain unaffected and free
from whatever form it assumes.

You are the theatre of consciousness,
in which all happenings appear;
remaining free from them all.

You are the knowing
that knows all that is known.

The eternal witness.

And this is the suchness
of our shared Universal Self;
an empty and limitless presence,
in which all of our human
conceptions, perceptions, and sensations
are imagined into being.

In truth,
no-thing can divide us,
regardless of the thoughts
that the mind tends to think
and project onto whatever we perceive.

We, the aware sentient,
are mutually interdependent
co-arising together,
as a single and harmonious whole.

One life.
One consciousness.
My breath is yours.

Brian Thompson

Zen Thinking

via - No Mind's Land

~

Sri Yantra artist - J.C. Quintin

Minding What Happens - Chuck Surface

[.....]

...I mind what happens ... immensely.
I mind with the Whole of my Being.
Even as I understand that all that occurs is,
From the Absolute perspective,
in the nature of things...

And as it is.

I mind the suffering of the world, terribly,
With the Whole of my Being.
Even as I understand that all that occurs is,
From the Absolute perspective,
in the nature of things...

And as it is.

I [want] with all my Heart...
For the end of suffering, everywhere, now, and forever,
Even as I understand that all that occurs is,
From the Absolute perspective,
in the nature of things...

And what will be, will be.

This "minding", this "caring"
This Heartfelt "desire for an outcome"...
None of it diminishes the Inner Radiance,
That shines in the Heart of my Being,
Full, Complete, Inexpressibly Ecstatic.

I mind what happens... a lot.

In Union, in the Absolute,
There is no space, time, or self,
To care what happens, or wish for outcomes,
But only Timeless, Spaceless, Objectless
Unalloyed Pure Being...

And what Is... Is.

But here, in this Dream of manifestation,
I pray and act with all my Heart for suffering's end,
Even as I understand that all that occurs is
From the Absolute perspective,
In the nature of things...

And what will be, will be.

It is not a matter of "not caring",
But rather, a matter of accepting.
Of caring deeply, with all your Heart.
But having the Wisdom to understand,
That Heartfelt prayer and effort aside...

What will be, will be.

In Love, I mind; in Wisdom, I accept.

Chuck Surface

In the Garden of the Beloved

Facebook

~

Photo via Love Is A Place

Vigil of "The Eternal Presence"...

Beholding the Beauty of the Placeless Place,
the Invisible Space of "The Eternal Presence",
prior to the world of form,
where You exist before your "self",
before the "you" was born...

Enfolded in the Embrace of Existence...
Surrendered to The Silence...
Immersed in the deep internal River of Stillness...
You find yourself
in the Hush of the Mystery:
the indwelling realm of "The Eternal Presence..."

Effortlessly breathing a cyclical rhythm.
Overtaken by Pure Silence.
Resting in the In-between:
The Liminal space - holding vigil -
at the threshold between time
and timelessness...

Awake - in the pre-birth twilight
within the Primordial Womb of Being,
from which all things are birthed,
and in which all things exist,
there is a profound sense of completeness;
a place of being fulfilled and emptied out
- simultaneously...

No "self"-realization, no holy revelations...
Only Awareness, and the pure ISness of Being - just being,
 in the fullness of the timeless Presence of Being - within...
Where Everything unfolds
in one continuous, ongoing moment.
No "present moment", nor past, nor future,
only the ceaseless unfurling
of the Liquid Life Stream,
without time...

~ as the body-mind wanders
through time ~

~

What words can convey
what can only be experienced...
And these jumble of words are only distortions
of the pureness of "The Eternal Presence."

_/\_

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Nov. 22, 2016

~

The Divine is experienced by the heart.
The Intellect, at best, can only trail behind and take notes.

Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

Empty Cups...

Experiencing spiritual confusion recently, I asked for guidance.  “Spirit” pointed me to “Emptiness.”  The word E-m-p-t-i-n-e-s-s floated through my awareness like a whisper, as if gently calling me to listen, to “see”, to touch, and to experience IT – this “Emptiness.”  I was drawn in to the *space* of Divine Emptiness within.

Amazingly I found articles and posts on Emptiness, on Consciousness, and on Awareness (which many consider one and the same).   Then I spontaneously posted the post about Cups in the Ocean, finding the poems by Rumi once again. And my post on SteppingInto The Stream is in many ways about discovering that wondrous space of Emptiness through letting go.  While decluttering the book cases a couple of weekends ago I re-discovered Adyashanti’s book, Emptiness Dancing, which I have just started re-reading.  And then Fred LaMotte posted this lovely piece recently on the Fullness of Emptiness…  Obviously there was something I was supposed to see about “Emptiness…”

When the word and internal *feeling* of Emptiness first wafted through, it was so powerful that I started taking empty cups from my cupboard and setting them out on their sides in places where I knew I would see them, as reminders of this wondrous sense of Emptiness - our original Nature; the Formlessness within Form analogy.

I experienced this Emptiness as endless spacious openness, unconfined, not having a bottom like a cup, but somehow the symbolism of the empty cup spoke to me, allowing me to recognize the Emptiness as our original Eternal Nature – the still-point of Consciousness ItSelf.   What we *think* we are - this ego, this personality, this identity, this mind, this thought, this emotion, this body, are basically empty forms, filled with Emptiness (Formless Awareness/Consciousness).  It is not the same gutted emptiness that one feels after loss, or trauma. Not “emptiness” in the sense of being a void, devoid of life, but a dynamic, yet subtle vibration of Aliveness, aware, knowing Emptiness that is viscerally felt as an alive, peaceful FULLness . 

When I would turn my awareness inward to this space of Emptiness I felt a profound quietness, a deep presence of Being, a re-orientation of my perspective.  But I also had the sense that through this re-orienting “I” was being “emptied out,” of my orientation to my habituated patterns of mental conditioning as a way of living, the conditioned mental frameworks, as well as deeply buried emotional issues that continue to run deep and rise often, along with the ego-centered way of seeing the world that wants to hang on.  It is like being emptied of all that is not Essential, which of course creates upheaval, and can and has sent me into anxiety and bouts of depression recently.  The ego becomes so emotionally attached to its ideas and beliefs of the way our life should happen, that it resists letting go.  In this process, however, I got the image that the “me” that I *think* I am, that I have become attached to, is an empty cup in the vast Ocean of Pure Consciousness – being dissolved into that Ocean, so that I may remember that *essentially* I am the Ocean. 

In some ways this does leave a kind of gutted feeling because the ego-self resists this emptying, as the orientation *begins* to shift from the “me/ego-self” to our Essential Nature - before the sense of a separate “me.”   The familiar identity known as Christine is being emptied out – present tense – ongoing – little by little - through a process of awareness and surrender – through continually bringing my awareness to this space of Emptiness, *feeling* it, the true Emptiness; seeing that these “ego forms” that we believe we are, are really just empty cups filled with this wondrous space of Aware Consciousness, or Emptiness, unattached to ego, or mind, or thought, or feeling – just the conscious Isness of Being.

How interesting the many varied ways in which we are each shown the wondrous mystery of our True Nature…  Shown that the process of “awakening” to the Truth of our Existence is ever-unfolding, each in our own way…

As a result, I realized recently that I no longer *know* what I *thought* I knew, as my perceptions of Truth have evolved.  In this space of Divine Emptiness what I *thought* was important to say, isn’t, because there is really nothing left to say…

Namaste…

The Sound Behind the Noise

Saturday while cleaning the house I had some cleaning type music on. I started with Fleetwood Mac and then ended with the Moody Blues. My oldies but goodies. I am a child of the 60’s :) - not too hippy-dippy though, wasn’t even aware of who Timothy Leary was, or his buddy Ram Dass. I was just a teenager coming of age in the burbs of America in the age of “Spiritual Awakening”, “evolving consciousness”, and the Vietnam War. And I don’t think I even really understood the words of the songs or the people I was listening to back then – but they struck a chord.

Anyway, The Moody Blues song – OM – came on and it reminded of an experience I had sometime last year. It was late afternoon, and I had reached a wonderful place of internal Quiet during “meditation time” – a time of internal communion and stillness. Afterwards I needed to go outside for some reason, and I remember standing just outside the front door. I became acutely aware of a low sound, like the hum of an engine somewhere, like a background sound, but very obvious. In that moment it occurred to me that it sounded like the sound of OM – not like I had actually heard this before, except for people chanting it - but I *knew* what it was. It was actually the most delightful noise, not irritating at all. A smile came to my face with the recognition that this sound was *in* the everydayness of noise. I realized back then, that “IT” (OM) was the background sound for everything! OM is the sound behind all other sounds. It is the underlying “sound” of Stillness that permeates what we call “noise.” Of course practiced yogis and yoginis know this… But that day I actually felt it – experientially - as if for the first time. And something came alive inside.

That evening while I was on the cushion again just before bed, my husband was cleaning out the cat box in the laundry room, just around the corner from the room I was in. I could hear the crunch-swish sound as he poked and raked the pooper-scooper through the kitty litter smoothing it out. It was the most delightful noise I had ever heard. There was a rhythm to it. I found this all quite hilarious as well – that I would find the *sound* of someone digging out the kitty litter box “delightful.” I started grinning and chuckling to myself. Once again it was if it was the sound of OM that I was hearing, and it gave me Joy! I have never experienced anything quite like this before or since. And yet I *know* it’s there. I’m aware – internally. I can sense this, feel this underlying still aliveness humming through my body. Like now, sitting here typing this, thinking these words, feeling emotions – it’s always present – enlivening me, animating me, living me.

Listening to the music reminded me that this ever-present Presence of Life – the hum of the Universe – what some call Awareness, Beingness, Stillness, Isness – runs through us all, connects us all. And once again I smiled. Ah - so – OM - the sound that is everywhere, behind every other sound... the sound behind all the noise. What a great mystery!

“The Earth turns slowly round.
Far away, the distant sound,
Is with us everyday.
Can you hear what it says?

Om…”

The Moody Blues
In Search of the Lost Chord

May your heart dance to the sound in the noise...

Heart Smiles – MeANderi
www.ASerenitySanctuary.com