Adi Shakti: The Primal Energy - Madhu

The [Cosmic] Mother's magic is ancient as life itself.
She existed before Gods and mortals, and She will
still exist even after the great dissolution.  Mother is
pure energy in subtle form...

The name Adi (or Adya) Shakti means 'primal power'
[or force], or 'primal energy' in Hinduism.  She is the
power/force/energy that permeates all creation, including
the animate, inanimate, and divine.  She is the [energy]
from which the universe is created and sustained, and
She is what everything will withdraw back into at the
end of their lives.

Shakti in the highest causal sense is God as Mother,
and in another sense it is the Universe that issues
from Her Womb.  She is the darkness from which light
issues, the unmanifest from which everything manifests.

She is no one particular form...but is generally manifested
in everything that we see in the universe, including the
life force that moves in it.  She is often described as 
neither male or female, yet both male and female at the
same time - beyond descriptive categories of male
and female.

She IS Everything

She is unbroken Reality

She is pure Being Consciousness-Bliss,
existing in the form of Time and Space,
and all that is therein, and is the radiant
Illuminatrix in all beings...

From : The Primal Goddess by Madhu

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

What's Real? - a meandering...

Tired of the weariness of existence 
and the "games" that people play...

Lost all longing for, or any sense of devotion to 
any "spiritual" entity. All "spiritualities" seem to be just
explanations and theories about existence; all the many
theologies, dogmas, doctrines, disciplines, traditions,
religions & practices; Karma, reincarnation, and
anything else humans have come up with to try to "explain"
how it all is - "The Truth of Existence..."

Are we just another species replicating itself...
Are we a dream...
Or - Are we Source morphing ItSelf into human form...

Is it really true that our True Nature is
 kindness & compassion & love...
There seems to be an inherent ignorance of that Nature...

What makes humans believe that a "God" - any one
"God" - is "right", or "in control..." It's all the same
 "God-energy" anyway - in essence - prior to manifestations

 of a personal "God" that we choose to name...

Is it true that there is only Pure Consciousness
manifesting ItSelf in all expressions so that "IT"
can experience humanity and all the experiences 
here in this realm -
over and over and over again...

My meanderings lead me to ask: Why - why after
billions of experiences in billions of manifestations
would "IT" (Consciousness) want more of the same
experience...Why does "IT want to keep manifesting
ItSelf just to experience limited human life in its
vulnerability...  Hasn't "IT" learned enough already...

It is a belief to help explain this existence, but you have
to believe it is true...

And am tired of all beliefs and theories and explanations
that leave me empty, disconnected - spiritually disoriented...

What is there that actually reveals the "Truth of Existence..."
"Direct Experience" you say...

But we all have different experiences of that too...

And who came up with all these concepts, theories and
conjectures, that we are supposed to just believe in...
Some ancient "sage" meditating in a cave?

I do miss not having an "explanation story" to believe in,
or a "God" to believe in, but - still want to know what
the Truth really is...

Is there something in us called Essence, Pure Being, Pure
Consciousness?  And if so, why don't we know this
Beingness, this Essence that we are...

Some say we have supposedly "forgotten" - concealing
the "Truth" of who we are from ourselves...
Why would we do that...

Why do we spend a lifetime seeking for what we already are...
Like looking for your cat, thinking it might me under the chair,
when all along it's been sitting in your chair watching you
search for "it"...

You have to be invested in what you believe in;
that it's true.  Even if it isn't...

And we all believe something different...

Having hope for a "better" reality, or a "better" you -
"enlightenment"- is the universal manipulation...

On the other hand, I don't believe that there is only
this reality - "just this..."
What of mystical experiences...

And believing in God/Guru only gives us a feeling of
worthiness, rightness - or unworthiness and "wrongness";
of being loved, special - or even condemned...

It's still all about "you" -
not what's Real...

So - what is "Real..."

The proverbial existential question...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Meanderings
June 27, 2021

P.S. - All that is required to "know" the "Truth"
is to enter the deep "inner space" and discover
the Heart of our own Being for ourselves...

Or is that just a belief too :)

~

Photo from the Internet
"Time Tunnel"

 

Dance with the Darkness - Author Unknown

The realization of wholeness is simply recognizing that
wholeness is the essential state of reality,
regardless of whether it is being experienced that way.

From: The Natural Contemplative

~

Everything is embraced/held by Pure Consciousness
including what we experience as "darkness."

Nothing is excluded, even the "darkness",
however that manifests in our minds.

You have to be willing to dance with the "darkness,"
which only means that you are willing to meet it,
to be with it, and not try to push it away;
not resist it as something absent of Light, but seeing
that the "darkness" is not the opposite of Light.

Just dance with whatever shows up...

The "darkness" is also part of the dance.

Nothing is excluded.

Everything is embraced.

It is Love dancing with ItSelf...

Author Unknown

~

Photo - artistic depiction of the earth via Uradiance

Mystical Spirituality...

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", Consciousness, Infinite Being, Spirit, Brahman,
The Tao, etc., etc., etc.  It has many names and forms.  It means
being able to see and experience "The Mystery" in the every-day-ness
of life; something I'm still "working" on - being more aware of the
Sacred in a chaotic world, in the mundane personal affairs of living;
the requirements of daily life: in the must do's and the have-to's
that always find their way to the top of my list, and seem to drive
life...

A "mystical spirituality" pertains to direct experience with Ultimate
Reality/The Divine/"The Mystery"...  Some may assume that a
 "mystic" doesn't experience the darker feelings and frustrations with
living the Cosmic Dance of life.  That has not been my  experience. 
A "mystic" just experiences them within context of the Greater Reality
 - and learns to embrace them as part of the totality of  experience. 
Some feel that a "mystic" has special insights, or powers,  or visions, 
or is only interested in seeking "mystical experiences." 
For me it is not about seeking experiences, but being open to the
movement of "The Mystery", the movement of Consciousness
through its many expressions, and at times experiencing an intimate
 encounter with what I know to be "The Divine", like my Epiphany in
Nov. 2013, or Waking Up To Bliss like I did recently, or "meditative
writings" many years ago, and poetry that sometimes just spills
 out onto the page.

Mystical Spirituality acknowledges the universality of what most have
come to call "God," "The Divine", or Buddha Nature (Dharmakaya),
not associated with any particular faith, religion, or practice, but a
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...  This "union" takes place within
ourselves with the realization that we are not a separate entity from
our Divinity, from Consciousness ItSelf, needing to grovel our way
back - but that "comm-union" is always happening.  There is always
only the movement of "Divinity" through life, through us.  There is
 no other "Higher" Self to search for.  It's all Here within us...

Wayne Teasdale, a 20th 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."

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 Consciousness 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 of no distance between ourselves and
 the Ultimate Mystery...  The spiritual journey is essentially one of
discovering the roots of our true identity.  It is a process of the totality
 of Consciousness, from which we arise.

He further says - "Everything is part of an undivided wholeness where
each being reflects this totality.  Non-duality means 'not two, and yet,
not one.'  [I know this is not the traditional Advaita/Non-dual
definition, but it is my experience as well.]  That is, the relationship
 between Divine Reality and human being is a subtle distinction,
but not a separation. And so the relationship is said to be non-dual.
Human beings are essentially Divine." [or Pure Consciousness, etc.]

Wayne Teasdale
20th Century Christian Mystic
from - A Mystic Heart

~

"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

Mind and Consciousness - Rupert Spira

There is no distinction between Essence of Mind
and the expression of mind...

There is no entity called mind in Consciousness...

Mind is the activity of Consciousness.
Thought is just the activity of Mind
in the activity of Consciousness.

Perception appears in Consciousness.
The mind is not the container.
There are thought perceptions in
Consciousness.

Thought, choice, desire, feelings are a
movement of Consciousness.

Consciousness in its naked form is empty
of thought, choice, desire, and feeling.

Rupert Spira
Non-Duality teacher

Excerpts from one of his YouTube video talks

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
 Clear Cut Glass Crystal
in a stoneware candle holder

Forest Wisdom - The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

One of the great discoveries of the Upanishads is The Self,
which is identical in all of us, the Life of all that lives.
Whenever we love we are really responding to The Self
within that person.  If we discover The Self in our own
consciousness, there will be no more [separateness].
This is the underlying theme of all mysticism.
Therefore, meditate on The Self - realize this
underlying Reality.

All existence - everything in the phenomenal world -
is "woven" in the Imperishable [The Self]...

From the introduction to The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
by Michael N. Nagler

~

The Self indeed is the light of man...

The Self, pure awareness, shines as the light within the heart,
surrounded by the senses...

When The Self takes on the body, [it] seems to assume
the body's frailties and limitations; but when it sheds
the body at the time of death, The Self leaves all these
behind.

...in sleep, the shining Self keeps the body alive
with the vital force of prana...

The Self is indeed Brahman [God],
but through ignorance people identify it
with the intellect, mind, senses, passions,
and the elements of earth.

...The Self freed from the body, merges in Brahman,
infinite life, eternal light.

Those who realize The Self enter into Peace...

Excerpts from The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
From - The Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran

The Upanishads - Eknath Easwaran

We spend our days in the familiar world of our five senses,
but what lies beyond that, if anything - a vast world, perhaps,
waiting to be explored.  Most of us are happy to stay where
we are.  We may even be afraid to venture into the unknown.

Yet there are always a few who are not content...
Simply knowing there is something unknown beyond their
reach makes them acutely restless.  This is true of adventurers -
especially those who seek to explore Consciousness itself.
They quietly slip out to see what lies beyond - the
topography of Consciousness itself [that] has an
illumination of its own...

We are meant to explore, to seek, to push the limits of
our potential as human beings.  The world of the senses
is just the base camp: we are meant to be as much at home
in Consciousness as in the world of physical reality.

It is our destiny as human beings to make this journey
ourselves.  Everything else is secondary...

Follow the path of the illumined ones...

...a familiar voice tugs at the edge of awareness...

~

The Upanishads are the recorded stories from Hindu sages
for whom the transcendent  Reality called "God" was
more real than the world reported to them by their senses.
Their purpose is not so much instruction, but inspiration -
an ecstatic snapshot of transcendent Reality.

The Upanishads tell us that there is a Reality underlying
life which rituals cannot teach, next to which the things we
see and touch in everyday life are shadows (of the Real).
This Reality is the essence of every created thing, and
the same Reality is our real Self.  Each of us is one with
the power that created and sustains the universe.  And
this oneness can be realized directly...  a Reality beyond
ordinary knowing...
It is the purpose for which each of us has been born...

From - The Upanishads
Eknath Easwaran
excerpt from the Introduction

~

This is my new "exploration" :) -
although I have no desire to become a Hindu,
and may not agree or resonate with all aspects of the
belief system.  And indeed I don't want a "belief system"
to live by. I want to live the true Essence of Life.  But, I
am still curious to know how others define and experience
that Reality, and glean gems from their wisdom writings.
Am always looking for new sources of inspiration :)

~

Photo - The Flammarion Engraving
from the internet

"Consciousness" is Vibration - Joan Ruvinsky

Kashmir Saivism (pronounced shaivism), specifically the
School of Recognition, assumes Consciousness, not matter
or energy, to be the basic stuff of the universe and that
manifestation is simply Consciousness vibrating at
grosser and grosser frequencies.  Spirit becomes Matter.
Divine Awareness solidifies from the formless through
denser mind and senses, all the way to the densest, most
basic elements of earth, water, fire, air and space.  The
world shines as the embodiment of the Divine Mother,
the eternal feminine - the Ultimate Reality...

Everything becomes potentially a doorway to the Infinite -
since it is simply a coagulation of this Infinity, in a play of
unfolding and refolding...

~

All manifestation, things, people, occurrences, effects and
affects are made of the self-same Consciousness [Infinite
Beingness] coagulated into form.

All pairs of opposites emerge from, are enfolded in and are
made of Pure Consciousness [Beingness].  Everything is
Consciousness[Beingness].  Everything happens.
Consciousness does not have a point of view.

Duality proceeds in non-duality.
It's not either/or - it's both/and.
The Infinite contains everything.

There is nothing that is not swept up in this fundamental
movement of Being-in-form.

~

"Consciousness" can also be called Awareness, Universal
Consciousness, Being, The Divine Feminine, The Divine
Mother from which manifestation materializes
according to the culture and background of Kashmir
Saivism.  It is also referred to as "This" - meaning
the Omnipresence of Ultimate Reality without
image or name.

~

Steep in the Unfathomable,
let the Mystery communicate ItSelf...

Joan Ruvinsky
Excerpts from -
The Recognition of our Own Heart
Pratyabhijnahrdayam

Love this book! :)

Read a "review" by Miriam Louisa Simons
at This Unlit Light

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
 Mandala Art

Everything is Vibration - Rupert Spira & Alan Watts

There is infinite Consciousness (Beingness) shining
in each of our finite minds. The feeling of Being is
"God's" Presence shining in each of our hearts.

Self-aware Being shines in the midst of all experience.
The Isness of things is the same infinite indivisible Being.
There is only God-space.

Awareness ItSelf assumes name and form.  It begins to
vibrate within ItSelf.  Every thought is a particular
vibration of Awareness.  Awareness ItSelf vibrates
within ItSelf.

[And at some point] it ceases to assume that particular
name and form...  

[I assume he's talking about death
of the body].

Rupert Spira

~

Life is a dance of energy

The ordinary, everyday experience is the same thing
as "God" realizing its own Presence.

Experience polarizes itself as self and other -

but it's all one - like a magnet.  It's all one
magnet with different poles.

Alan Watts

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Unburden Yourself - Nisargadatta

You are so accustomed to think of yourself as bodies having
consciousness that you just cannot imagine Consciousness
as having bodies...

...bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in
Consciousness.  The Ocean of Consciousness is infinite
and eternal...

You are not the body.
You are the immensity and infinity of Consciousness.

You are not the person you think yourself to be.

Trust nobody, not even yourself.  Search, find out,
remove and reject every assumption till you reach the
living waters and the rock of truth.

If you stay with the idea that you are not the body, nor
the mind, nor even their witness, but altogether beyond,
your mind will grow in clarity, your desires - in purity, your
actions - in charity and that inner distillation will take you
to another world, a world of truth and fearless love.

Leave it all behind you...
Go forth unburdened with ideas and beliefs.
Abandon all verbal structures, all relative truth...

Nisargadatta

~

Re-examine all you have been told.
Dismiss what insults your soul...

Walt Whitman

~

Art - Mystic Meandering
digitally altered

The Rhythm In Stillness....

Utter Stillness
within and without
claims me as Its own…

Sweet repose is this Stillness…
beyond mental chatter,
beyond endless thinking,
beyond the chaos of the world…

Utter Stillness does not anticipate…
does not seek – “answers.”
It just IS…
awareing
seeing
knowing
being
only
what It Is…

Stillness….

To *reside* in the Utter Stillness of Being
is pure Bliss,
pure Peace,
pure Awareness,
pure Knowing;
the purest of movements arise,
in the pureness of Inner Stillness…

From the Spaciousness of Utter Stillness
life is just experienced…

no conclusions
no interpretations
no judgments
no reaction
no labels

Just Life being lived…

in/as the

Utter Stillness of Eternal Being
that we are…


Sweet Rhythm...



Mystic Meandering
Sept. 2015

The Eternal Story...

Everything is Eternal Being, Eternal Consciousness, Eternal Awareness that just IS.  Plug in whatever word works for you.  “IT” is ubiquitous = everywhere at the same time, aware of everything that is occurring all at once.

The mind really can’t fathom this, so it creates words, stories, and images, like “God”, which personifies (person-ifies) what cannot be person-ified, to try to explain what cannot be explained – including words like Beingness, Consciousness, and Awareness… :)

There is just the Pure Space of Awareness – everywhere!  It is an alive Space appearing “empty” – like the sky, or space itself.  Yet, everything is suspended in this Space, as if by “magic.”  Everything is “held” in that Space of Emptiness, exists in that Space – including you and I…  A mystery.

The “trick” is to see from the perspective of this Eternal Space, from the Space of Infinite Beingness, rather than from the place of “Earth mind” that only sees the “Earth mind” as real; does not see the bigger picture of being suspended in this Space, but only thinks its immediate reality is real – when in fact it is only part of a much larger Reality that lives and breathes this reality into existence.

How would life change if we started to see our lives in this way, from the perspective of Eternal Awareness – Ubiquitous Awareness – Omniscient Awareness…  From this place of Space…  What would happen if we started viewing each other from this perspective?  Something I fail at miserably...

This is the dis-entanglement from the matrix of our personal life dramas – to see all of it differently – to see the Eternal Infiniteness of all things.

We are being breathed by this Space of Infinite Awareness, by the Cosmic “Spirit” – if you will.  I feel IT when sitting in the space of Silence – the Still Point - being Aware.  This is intimacy with Eternal Being – this sense of intimate connection through the breath of Silence.  It runs through the whole body, is in every cell: the energy of Eternal Being…

This is what we abide in already and don’t even realize it.  It is a natural abidance in this Space of Eternal Beingness.  We abide in the Infinite naturally.  We are just not always aware of it, don’t have a felt sense of it… And so we constantly look for/seek what we call “God” or “The Divine” when it is already what is always right here as Pure Spacious Awareness; is what we breath, and breathes us, is what bathes the cells, and permeates “our” world.  This Divine Energy of life continues on after death, but we focus on the physicality and not the “spirit energy”, that sustains and animates the body – that which never dies.  We only see personalities and not the Beingness of the person.  I know this is true for me.  But if we really look, what is really there…

We try to wrap our minds around the concepts of “God” or “The Divine”, “Emptiness”, “The Infinite”, etc., but the mind cannot really fathom what that really is…  We must let go of our thoughts about “God”/Awareness/Consciousness, and just experience being suspended in “IT.”

It seems so esoteric and yet we can feel the realness of it – experientially, through awareness, direct awareness, direct experience when we don’t overlay it with the minds images – imposing labels, names, stories and images on it, which only hides the Truth of It - deceives us and deludes us – because we believe the mind’s version. 

Everything is ultimately a story – my life is a story, your life is a story.  In reality the “eternal story” is about "returning" to/recognizing who we really are underneath the personal story – our Eternal Beingness.  Ultimately it is the Eternal Story being lived here.  If I don’t see myself as a separate person from Eternal Beingness: a separate person having a personal life, then I can feel this Infinite Space coursing through my body – and know that THAT is the Truth of who I am.  That frees me from all entanglements and dramas that have been created by the story of “me” that I have believed in my mind…

My journal notes
Nov. 11, 2014

"Every thread of us is a vibration of God-Consciousness,
resonating at a frequency beyond light."

Fred LaMotte


Alan Watts YouTube Link:
http://youtu.be/5FELdBsixGg

Please see these other wonderful related posts:

No One Remembers the Past

Fred LaMotte

Non-identification
Jack Kornfield

Stepping Into The Stream...

About a month or so ago the phrase “stepping into the stream” came to me, and the question – what if I just stepped into the middle of the stream and let go – figuratively speaking.  The insight that came with this was that it meant letting go of the shore of course, not just the one side, but *both* sides.  And that it was not about going from one shore to the other, not about crossing the river/stream, but about letting go of both sides and just being *in* the stream – the Cosmic Stream of Pure Consciousness, the stream of Eternal Beingness – allowing the internal flow of that to take me. I began to understand that what was required was a total immersion in “Divine Consciousness” – a total surrender; a total bowing – not my will but thine kind of bowing.

The letting go was about loosening my grip on *my* hold on life, my take on life, if you will - letting go of holding on to the physical world, the mental constructs of what *seems* to be true that keeps me holding on to the edges.  Buddhists would call it letting go of the attachments we hold onto, the identities, the roles, the beliefs that we have taken on and are attached to – that we *think* gives us a sense of security, stability, permanence, even “spirituality” – but that really keeps us holding on to the edges of the true Living Stream of Divine Consciousness.

In metaphorically “stepping” into this Stream, which is another way of saying becoming more deeply *aware* of what is really Aware within us, becoming conscious of the vast Consciousness that we are, we have to let go of our *identification* with our small self dramas - allowing the Cosmic Stream of Consciousness to take us, absorb us into ItSelf.  By consciously “stepping” into this Stream, turning my awareness towards the Infinite, I am saying that I am willing to let go of my attachments.  I am willing to surrender who I *think* I am to the seamless Divine Flow, trusting that as I step more deeply into the River/Stream, it will dissolve all my ideas and illusions about being a separate self from the Ocean of Consciousness that I/we actually am/are.  This will continue to be the step for me, to knowingly step into this Current and *trust* the River – the Divine Stream of Life – The Mystery of Divine Consciousness, and move in ITs Way more fully.

It’s a lot easier writing *about* this than actually stepping into the Stream and letting go – letting myself just rest in the silent awareness of the vast field of Consciousness that we truly are, which is not affected by our thoughts, feelings, emotions, ambitions, or life circumstances that are happening to us personally – or in the world for that matter.  Ultimately, everything is allowed and everything collapses back into the silent stillpoint of vast Consciousness – while IT remains undisturbed.  But we need to experience this for ourselves, to consciously *feel* what it’s like to step into the Stream of this vastness of awake, knowing Awareness within – the living Consciousness – and see where it goes.  It’s a continuous, ongoing step taken moment to moment…

Photo: Sunrise on Merrymeeting Lake, NH

Taken by my brother 2009

Divinely Human...

My mind wants to tell me that ‘just sitting’
- sitting meditation in Silence – is not enough.
But my Heart/Spirit knows that
’just sitting”-
in Silent Awareness

is exquisitely enough…

It is
communion
with the
Infinite
Beingness
of all
life

It is the “medicine”
for every ailment…

It is the Light that brings awareness
to all hidden places…

It is the Spaciousness
from which all knowing
and all needed action
arises
with
clarity

Heart says:
Spend as much time as possible
’just sitting’

in the depths
 of Silence
communing

with the
 inner movement
of
    Eternal Being…

experiencing intimately
 the embrace
and intelligence
of what lives us;
not resigned to
”just being human…”

not settling…

But being aware
of our Humanness and Infiniteness
as One Rhythm,
playing together…
The Infinite manifest as finite,
the formless in form:
The Truth of Existence…

Humanness infused with
such Suchness
that we are enlivened with
a Life
much vaster
than
”just”
our humanness…

Can we truly embrace
that

enlivened
Life
as
who
we
are

The
Pure
Conscious
Awareness

that
breathes
us
into
e
x
i
s
t
e
n
c
e

Can we allow ourselves to remember
what we *really* are,
beyond
disturbances of the mind,
our insecurities,
our thoughts,
our feelings,
our beliefs,
our
self-image,
our self-identities
our roles and labels…

Can we allow ourselves
to see/sense/know
The Infinite Presence
that
we
are
behind these eyes,
behind this persona,
animating this body:

The Heart of Being

that
we have longed
to know
all our lives

Don’t settle…

Can we quit pretending
that “we’re only human”
that we can’t know…

Can we
take off the shadowy masks
that blind us,
and
SEE

the
Infinite Conscious Awareness
that we are…

That we are Divinely Human…

You don’t have to wait lifetimes…
It’s right here, right now -
everywhere…

Just be still
’just sit’
in
Silence

and
listen

Open the eyes of the Heart
and
SEE

Our “Divine Essence”
 has always been here

Feel IT

Experience IT

Don’t settle…

Meditative Writings
original -August 2012
reworked May 2014

~

“Divine Essence” is also:
Buddha Mind
True Nature
Infinite Consciousness
Pure Awareness

Eternal Being
Presence

~~~~

Photo: Yin-Yang Lotus Mandala
May 4, 2014

Dancing In "The Mystery"...

I can’t help myself. I must write what calls to me.

What I now call “God” is not the God of my childhood: the religious “persona” with a long white beard sitting in the clouds, belonging only to one religion, making judgements about who goes to heaven and who goes to hell (if there are such places).  Now I experience “God” as an open, spacious, fluid, alive energy, or Consciousness, or Awareness – that reveals ItSelf as a *felt* Presence.  It reveals ItSelf to be a vast, expansive, infinite, sometimes intense movement of energy, yet compassionate and delicately intimate.  I am (we are) immersed in THAT.  I experience the Silence of Its Vastness…  I want to *feel* Its Presence continually – until all else falls away – all the egoistic veils and mental constructs that keep me from deeply experiencing and *knowing* this Presence, and *seeing* clearly that this *is* who we ARE – Divine Essence.  I want to dive into this delicious Mystery, and be absorbed in its silent Music.   I am unapollogeticaly a “mad woman” who’s Heart is *finally* dancing! J 

Although I have experienced this “energy” for many years, only recently have I been experiencing a “new” sense of the Intimacy of this “Reality”, after my “Epiphany” in early November; experiencing more clearly that all there is, is this vast, aware Presence whom some name “God”, what others call Emptiness or Nothingness, and what I have also called The Mystery, or The Beloved, or The Divine, or The Infinite, or Silence, or Awareness, or Beingness, or Pure Consciousness (among other names.)  It’s all the same…

One night last December I noticed the Full Moon and realized that the moon *reflects* this Mystery back to us every night.  On the surface it’s just an “orb” making its way around the earth, as earth makes its way around the sun – which can be scientifically explained of course. J  But seen from a larger perspective it is mirroring the Vastness of Infinity in which it is suspended.  I am just now comprehending the immensity of this Mystery!  We reduce Reality down to words, to names like Mother Moon, Father Sun, or Mother Earth, and Father Sky, or “God”, living in the stories we apply to them, rather than the *immensity* of the Ultimate Reality that is actually taking place right before our eyes in Infinitude.

When I allow myself to contemplate it all, there is nothing but awe and wonderment that we even exist here – supposedly an illusion, or someone’s dream, supposedly my own – but I’m not so sure anymore.  Instead, I see “The Mystery” everywhere manifesting ItSelf – continually dancing *within* ItSelf - *as* ItSelf – *as* “just this.”  But we *miss* this Mystery because we focus only on “just this” – the immediate moment, the immediate experience, our little dramas - our eyes only focused on the here and now instead of the “The Mystery” behind the here and now – that which animates the here and now - which is actually the Eternal Now without limits of time and space.  I know some of you will not agree with this J and that’s okay… I am merely pointing to the larger Reality *behind* the present moment – the context for the present moment. Like looking beyond the clouds to the vast sky in which the clouds are suspended, while the clouds come and go…  We are suspended in that vast spaciousness as well – mere clouds that appear and dissipate…

There is only The Infinite – Light years and Light years of Infinity - that we cannot possibly comprehend, and so we create religions, belief systems, philosophies, and mythologies to try to make sense of it.   Our *minds* create finitude, like “here and now”, or “just this”, and “we” become imprisoned in the *belief* that there is only “this” – mis-interpreting the meaning and implications of the word “this.”  What “this” could there ever be besides the Infinity in which we float!?  Aka: the Infinite Dance of Existence that we dwell *within* - not as a separate, individual entity, but as Infinity ItSelf, manifesting as us – as “just this.”  Kind of gives one pause and perspective…

I live in awe and wonderment of THIS – this Mystery.  I want to be ever *aware* of Its Eternal Presence that is dancing here – waiting for us to recognize IT – although IT never was and never can be *separate* from who we are - our Eternal Beingness - or our experience right now… 

I am falling in love with “The Mystery” again and again – like Rumi with Shams of Tabriz; like Hafiz, like Kabir, although I have hardly read these poets  - these ancient Mystics who *knew* “The Mystery” intimately, as Friend, and danced *in* ITs celestial tune – embraced *by* The Rhythm…  Such wonderment is beyond any personal sense of “me…” J

Pardon me while I dance… J

Woman Dancing In The Fire

~

“Enlightenment is not about words and thoughts and concepts.
Enlightenment is always Here.

By ‘Here’ I don’t mean this present space.
Here is somewhere within where mind cannot reach.
Presence is always Here and you are always That.

This here is not the opposite of ‘there.’
This ‘here’ is your Heart.
All the cosmos is but a speck in your Heart.”

Papaji
From: The Truth Is

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“The joy of being human is uncovering the core
we already are…”

Coleman Barks
The Soul of Rumi

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"Fold within fold the beloved
drowns in its own being.
The world is drenched with
that drowning."

Rumi

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“…what is empty turns its face to us
and whispers
’I am not empty. I am open.”

Tomas Transtromer
translation by Robert Bly

~

Top 2 Photos:  This is what I “see” internally when I *say*
 the name “God” now;
not these color specifically, and more “billowy”,
 the energetic sense of fluidity.
I did these with CrayPas oil pastels in 2011

Photo 3: Woman Dancing in the Fire

CrayPas oil pastels – 2012