Plumb The Depths...

Do not be afraid to
plumb
the
depths
of 
your 
Being,
of

Truth;
to question
everything
you
have
learned

Take the journey deeply inward
to your beginnings - and endings;
to the Silent hum
in the Heart
of all Life
that sings,
and
see
for
your
self.

There are many caravans to follow,
those aspiring to "enlighten" or "awaken" you
with their words,
left like burning firewood to light your way,
along the road...

But only in Sacred Silence can the journey be made
to the Heart of Being;
to discover the depths of Being ~
of That which you are;
That which wants to 
*live*
within you...

Do not let fear stop your descent
into the Inner Vastness:
the deep Ocean within...

Be still,
and open...
Listening...

Follow the plumb line
of your breath,
past the Furies and the Sirens
into the soft ebullience
of Love
and quiet Joy
waiting for you,
like ethereal
liquid pools
of Light
drawing
you
in

Rest Here

In
the
depths
of
this
Alive
Silent
Spacious
Awareness

Listen to the endless
Rhythm already
holding
you
in the cradle
of
Peace

Feel
the
pervasive
contentment
of Life
Here
in
the
depths of
Sacred
Silence,
that animates
every cell,
every atom,
every sound,
every thought,

every feeling ~

until you *know*
THIS

*as*

yourself.

Simply Living...

Mystic Meandering
April 17, 2012

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering
2010

 

The Inner Wilderness - Brené Brown

Belonging so fully to yourself that you're willing to stand alone
is a wilderness - an untamed, unpredictable place of
solitude and searching.  It is a place as dangerous as it is
breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared.  The
wilderness can often feel unholy because we can't control
it, or what people think about our choice of whether to
venture into that vastness or not.  But it turns out to be the
place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred
place you will ever stand

Brené Brown

with thanks to Beyond The Fields We Know

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Briefly Here - Jim Wilson

Briefly
We walk this earth.
We have
But a short time.
We resemble grasses;
Green in the spring,
Brown in the summer heart,
Withering in the winter wind.
Those who understand this
Put aside their useless quarrels.
The cosmos is unfathomably vast.
The human mind is very small.
An act of kindness is never wasted;
it is the gateway to the deathless and unborn,
it is the exultation of the heart.

Jim Wilson

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

Photo via No Mind's Land

"Wandering"

"Wandering" in the Great Inner Wilderness - the Vastness of Being -
is intentional.  It is not floundering or aimlessness, but a deep
resting in The Silence of The Mystery...I am not renouncing
anything, nor seeking to attain anything - like enlightenment -
but only allowing myself to feel the deeper Rhythm of Life within -
through Silence and Solitude - through moving with the movement
of the Eternal, Infinite Being that arises from the deep inner space
 of Silence.

This is not an escape from the "world", yet to some degree that is true.
It is leaving behind the "surface consciousness" of the world that so
often drives us/me through life, and keeps us/me from deepening
into The Inner Rhythm - until - I am able to intuitively and
and instinctively feel the Internal Rhythm of Being flowing in and
through myself - naturally - usually through being in intentional
Silence...

This Rhythm is a fluid, open movement of unending intimacy with
"The Beloved" (The Formless Silence that animates all Life)...  I
wander this Inner Wilderness bringing my awareness to that internal

movement of Being - seeing how IT wants to move me.  At
times I feel as if "The Beloved" is as much in  my shoes as I am
in "The Beloved's" shoes - walking as one...

The Inner Wilderness is a space of remedial Silence for me that heals
the Heart and Spirit/Soul.  It allows me to be "anonymous" - without
identity, or function - just resting - allowing myself to be absorbed
by the Silence - leaving everything else behind until I am fully
Immersed...

Sometimes I experience an inexplicable, unbidden, palpable all-
encompassing - as if held from within - Presence of the deepest
Peace. Standing int the grocery store one day - yes, I still have to
 tend to the mundane :)  I am not in a cave somewhere :) - I was
acutely aware that I was surrounded and infused with a Great Peace
 in the midst of chaos...  I stood in wonder realizing this as life played
 itself out around me...  I also realized that I was actually functioning
 from that place, even without being aware of it, until I became aware
 of it - if you know what I mean.  A sense of "me-ness" had dropped,
to some degree, and "I" was just Peace - doing the groceries -
living life... But this was only a glimpse...a glimmer of Reality
 that faded over time.

Once, I felt myself fall more deeply into a felt sense of a deeper Inner
Rhythm - a seamless fluidity within - that nothing could interrupt: not
thought or the external distractions of life, nor the deeply ingrained
 emotional and mental patterns that arose as well.  Once again,
I was losing a sense of "me."  It was freeing as "I" was opened up to
the deeper Rhythm of Being; a deeper Awareness...  But this
 too faded in time.

Although these experiences faded, I do not consider them mere
"mystical experiences", but the normal play of the Formless in
Form that we encounter if we are paying attention...  The Formless
dances within us, and comes to us in many Forms, gracing us with
ITs touch...  We only need to be aware...

~

"The Beloved falls in Love with ItSelf...
Inhabits ItSelf - as Form...
and loves the Form of ItSelf..."

MM

~

this post was originally written in 2015

~

Photo from the internet

Collapse the Scaffolding...

Allow everything to collapse…
All the structures that you have erected,
that you cling to;
beliefs, opinions, self-images, self-identities;
self-definitions;
what you *think* you are;
believe you are;
want life to be;
desire to have;
and feel about
your ‘self.’

Collapse everything
that you hold onto
as your ‘self.’

Collapse into the Ineffable Mystery of Being;
with no sense of I am this or that;
no sense of a separate ‘me’;
just pure Life
expressing
the
stream
of
Living
moving
in,
through,
and as
’you.’

Collapse into the Fullness
of
Emptiness,

of
Silence,

of
Stillness…

Experience what’s
beyond the structures
that you’ve tried
to hold in place for so long
with your scaffolding:
your “ego”,
your “personality”…

Feel the Vastness of Being when there’s
nothing to cling to…

No identity
No self-image
No plan
No concept of life
No belief
No opinion
No judgment
No *sense* of 
’self’
to hold
’you’
up.

When the false scaffolding collapses

What is “behind” this “you”
that you *think* you are?

Nothing but the Ineffable Mystery of Life ItSelf…

~ ♥ ~

Mystic Meandering

Meditative Writings

July 2011

Wilderness Wanderings...

“Illumined”

Mystic Meandering
March 4, 2015

I am still wandering daily in the Inner Wilderness of Silence and Solitude – as much as I can anyway… And no matter how much I tell myself, and others, that I am quitting blogging, I am compelled to write! J LOL…  It is what I do, what comes naturally - writing that is… So here I am - writing again!  Here’s the latest from my “wildnerness wanderings…”

~

This “wandering” in the Great Inner Wilderness – the Vastness of Being - is intentional. It is not floundering or aimlessness, but a deep resting in The Silence of The Mystery of Being… I am not renouncing anything, nor *seeking* to attain anything – like enlightenment – but only allowing myself to feel the deeper Rhythm of Life within - *through* Silence and Solitude - through moving *with* the movement of my Innermost Being that arises from the deep inner space of Silence… 

This is not an escape *from* the “world”, yet to some degree that is true.  It is leaving behind the “surface consciousness” of the world that so often drives us/me through life, and keeps us/me from “deepening” into The Inner Rhythm – until - I am able to intuitively and instinctively *feel* the Internal Rhythm of Being flowing in and through myself – naturally – usually through being in Silence…

This Rhythm is a fluid, open, movement of unending intimacy with “The Beloved” (The Formless Silence that animates all Life)…  I wander this Inner Wilderness bringing my Awareness and Attention to that internal movement of Inner Being – seeing how IT wants to move me.  At times I feel as if “The Beloved” is as much in my shoes as I am in “The Beloved’s” shoes - walking as one…

The Inner Wilderness is a space of remedial Silence that heals the Heart and Spirit.  It allows me to be “anonymous” – without identity, or function – just resting – allowing myself to be absorbed by the Silence – leaving everything else behind until I am fully Immersed…

The first week I experienced an unexplainable, unbidden, palpable, all-encompassing – as if held from within - Presence of Peace.   Standing in the grocery store one day – yes, I still have to tend to the mundane J  I am not in a cave somewhere J - I was acutely aware that I was surrounded and infused with a Great Peace in the midst of chaos… I stood in wonder realizing this as life played itself out around me…  I also realized that I was actually functioning *from* that place, even without being aware of it, until I became aware of it – if you know what I mean.;)  A sense of “me-ness” had dropped, to some degree, and “I” was just Peace – doing the groceries – living life…  But this was only a glimpse…a glimmer of Reality…

One day, in the second week of inner “wandering”, I felt myself fall more deeply into a felt sense of a deeper Inner Rhythm - a seamless fluidity within – that nothing could interrupt: not thought, thinking, the external distractions of life, nor the deeply engrained emotional and mental patterns that arose during the week as well – the Boogeymen In the Wildnerness J - which I may write about later… Once again I was losing a sense of “me.”  It was freeing as “I” was opened up to the deeper Rhythm of Life…

Another morning, as I was sitting, head tilted back resting on the back of the chair, eyes closed, face in the sun, I became aware of a dance of fluid color underneath my eyelids.  Colors were merging and blending with each other forming shapes and images – like paintings.  If I could only paint what I see!   This is not an uncommon phenomenon to see fluid colors when resting with closed eyes, but most of the time we aren’t aware of it, don’t even see it.  My sense of self got lost in the imagery and dance of color, as another layer of “surface consciousness” seemingly dropped away and I tuned into the deeper Rhythm again – a deeper Silence – a deeper Awareness.

I do not consider these merely “experiences”, but the *normal* play of the Formless in Form that we can encounter if we are paying attention… The Formless (“The Beloved”) dances within us, and comes to us in many Forms, gracing us with ITs touch… We only need to be aware…

“The Beloved falls in Love with ItSelf…
Inhabits ItSelf – as Form…
and loves the Form of ItSelf…”

MM

~*~

Cups In The Ocean - Rumi and Mayer

“These forms we seem to be
are cups floating in an ocean
of living consciousness.

They fill and sink without leaving
an arc of bubbles,
or any good-bye spray.

What we are is that ocean,
too near to see,
though we swim in it
and drink it in…"

”Pour your cup into your
deep ocean-self -
[become aware]

of the vast awareness
and the surge
that carries you along.”

Rumi

I have blended excerpts from two poems
Cup and Ocean, and Cup

In the following video Peter Mayer sings of the vastness of the Soul.
For those who don’t believe in the concept of a “soul”

you can substitute words like Spirit, or True Nature, or Being
and just enjoy this musical wave on the Ocean. J

If the video doesn’t play please leave me a comment to let me know.
Thank you…

The Greatest Medicine...

Over the last 5 days I have had the great good fortune of spending a lot of the time in Meditative Silence, re-discovering that the best medicine is experiencing the awareness of Being (Essence, Living Spirit), that Living Presence that exists within all of us beyond the egoic consciousness.   For me this awareness happens through Meditative Silence. 

Last week I started feeling a pull into Meditative Silence that continued into the weekend – which gave DH a lot of time to prepare for his interview today. J  And it did not mean that there wasn’t any “doing” – as there was laundry and meals to make, phone calls to family to be made, conversations with DH to be had, etc.  Yet, I was continually drawn inward beyond the egoic functioning, the scaffolding of the self, into the open space of Being - to the awareness of Presence beyond the mechanism of the “me.”  Some days I felt a soft presence of Love surrounding me, other days it was the felt sense of the vast expanse beyond form, and other days just an awareness of The Silence of Being that is the thread through all life.  Even so, feelings arose, emotions emoted, but there was still this Essence of Being that made Its Presence known through the veils of thought, feeling and “doing.”

Most psychologies and some forms of “spirituality” focus on “fixing”, putting the emphasis on *self*-improvement, *self*-empowerment, on gaining *personal* power, offering to make life better by fixing, or bolstering the surface self – the ego, the personality - neglecting to see the root cause - the underlying “connection” with and awareness of our Essential Being.  Directly experiencing the inner flow of Being on a regular basis will do more for us than any quick-fix methods, as helpful as they may be initially.  I had forgotten this, under the strain of years of life’s twists and turns in unexpected directions, falling back into the egoic fear of survival again and again.  When we are able to reach a deep state of awareness of Being, the protective scaffolding of the ego begins to collapse, or becomes transparent, as we discover that we ARE That Silent Presence of Being – that there is no separation from our Essential Being, and never has been – the key to any kind of lasting transformation.

This is not to say that the “ego” needs to be transcended, or gotten rid of, as if that were possible. J   It is part of the whole package and needs to be embraced as such.  But it is not *essentially* who we are.   We can learn to keep bringing our awareness back to the silent space of Beingness and see our life experiences through the lens of Being, and not the ego/persona: the constellation of ideas, beliefs, opinions, judgments, thoughts, identities and definitions about who we *think* we are, and what we *think* reality is, and how life “should” be happening…  To see through that scaffolding to the incredible vast Aliveness that we are changes our perspective – even momentarily.  I am currently re-acquainting myself with the awareness of this “core” Being again, re-experiencing it as a part of my daily practice of awareness…  Becoming aware of Being (no matter how many times) is like becoming aware of our Essence before we were born – returning to the Innocence of Being.  Delighting in that…  Abiding in the felt sense of Being.  The Greatest Medicine. 

Resources:
Adyashanti – The Way of Liberation on-line course

Ram Dass – Paths to God
and my own experience J

Also see: Collapse the Scaffolding
And: November's Swan Song - Edge of Glory

Photo:

Rainbow light on wall
zoom blurred

Winter Sky, Duality, and Danna Faulds...

This morning I woke up thinking – as usual - feeling discouraged that it is not the Vastness of the Infinite that I experience first thing, but the mind with its thoughts.  And then it occurred to me that thinking was not really the problem.  It was my perception.  Thinking arises in the Infinite.  It is a function of the Infinite Mind.  There is no separate “thinker.”   You can’t *stop* thinking.  If we attempt to get rid of “thinking” we create duality – the mind vs the Infinite.  But the mind and thought are not separate from the Infinite, as if one is better than the other.  It is all the Infinite living Itself – even through the mind…  Thinking is not a problem.  It’s just a matter of bringing our awareness to the Presence of the Infinite Vastness within that is aware of thinking happening…

 “I am everywhere present’”

said the Infinite.
Seek me in the stately trees
or the melodies of sparrows
and you will surely find me.

Look for me in the Buddha’s smile,
the countenance of Christ,
the words of the Koran and Sanskrit prayers.
I am always there.

Turn your attention to the sky
where the movements of moon and stars
trace my beauty…

Experience true emptiness
and my presence permeates the void.
Now bring your focus closer
to your heart.
Grow still and find me within you.

Separation dissolves like salt water
when you experience your true identity as me.

From knower and perceived,
seer and seen,
from two comes One.

Practice devotion and let go into the ocean
of my love,
or be the open space from which all things arise.

One and two,
duality and union,
are both true.

So I say to you be jubilant,
and be at peace,
for inside you is the seed and fruit,
the tree and root.

Choose to be in communion with me
and see the whole of this
creation unfused with one energy…”

Danna Faulds
From: Prayer to the Infinite

 “The ordinary and the unified field

don’t just co-exist,
they coincide in the same place,
at the same time.
Divine and human
can’t be teased apart -
there is no separate thread
to pull heart from mind and soul.

There is only the unbroken chain of wholeness
forged link by link in a continuum.
What is sacred and awake is
inextricably braided into the everyday,
but we forget that we can’t dissect
the mundane from the radiant.

We lose ourselves in the rush to get
things done.

Our memory grows dim
and there is such longing.
We desperately seek something,
anything,
to plug us back into what we’ve always been,
forgetting that the disconnect is only an illusion,
easily erased in the choice to see the truth…”

Danna Faulds
From: Prayer to the Infinite

 “I was born to bridge

the pairs of opposites
to span the apparent
distance between light
and dark,
joy
and sorrow.

I exist to see past differences,
to open my arms
so wide that all
I can see and know
and be
is inside my reach.

I am here to give and receive love;
so closely attuned to All That Is
that breathing is an act
of passionate attraction.

I am not caught,
but freed by the seeming
contradictions between
seer and seen,
knower
and
unknown…

In the tidal ebb and flow
between lover and beloved
I explore the rugged
coastline of surrender…”

Danna Faulds
From: Prayers to the Infinite

Danna Faulds is a poet, writer,
practitioner and teacher
of Kripalu Yoga

~

The other morning I imagined that “i”, this ‘me”, this “self”, that I have been conditioned to *believe* is separate from the Infinite, dissolved into the vast Ocean of the Infinite, like an ice cube melting into the vast expanse of the Ocean of Existence. They are the same Essence. And  I remembered, once again, that there is really no separateness between "me" and the Infinite, even though I often live that way…  “i” is a wave of the Ocean, moving with the Ocean, as the Ocean…  Everything dissolves back into the Infinite Ocean, into one continuous movement of Infinite Consciousness from where thinking and “i” arise…  

”Become the sky…
Take an axe to the prison wall…
Walk out like someone born into color.

You’re covered with a thick cloud.
Slide out the side…”

Rumi

~

You might also like to read my own meditative writings

on the subject:

Primordial Presence

Wonders From the Depths of Being...

Bask in the passion of Truth – of Life;
the passionate Truth of Being.
Let yourself deepen into the
Depths

of the
Nameless Ocean of Being,
and become aware
of the
Truth of Being
that you are…

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
July 2012

Wonder of wonders, I may have discovered my reason to get up in the morning. J  It seems it is to *experience* the Adventure of Being – whether one calls it Being, Awareness, Consciousness, Existence, Essential Nature, True Nature, Buddha Nature, Christ Consciousness, The Beloved, The Great Msytery, Emptiness, Love, etc.  Any name we give it is merely a description, a characteristic, a quality, an attribute.  But what is this Presence – this Ubiquitous Presence that just IS, that we *feel* as the very basis of our being, of life, of living?  I recently experienced it as the primal passion of Being, the Passion of Being for living ItSelf - here… There’s an Aliveness that wells up, that wants to know ItSelf and be known – intimately - to be acknowledged, experienced, and to be expressed.  Beingness Itself, beyond the mask of “me”, wanting to experience and express ItSelf – as life – as us.  Have you felt it…

I listen to and experience the depths of Being through sitting meditation, through becoming intimately *aware* of Beingness at the depths of Silence, aware of what is Aware of every experience, every thought, every feeling.  Aware of the fluidity, the movement and the tangible depth of Being.  It is Being, expressing ItSelf *as* life.  There is a subtle tingling, a “vibration” of “livingness” going on continuously – unendingly – at the depths of Being… It’s wondrously amazing. The “Emptiness” of Existence is alive and constantly generating Itself in the vibration called life.  There is a deep resonance within the depths of Being – a deep primordial hum of “livingness” – the silent hum of the Universe that vibrates all life into Existence – OM.  It is a deep Aliveness that cannot be interpreted or labeled.  It is not even really “Joy.”  It’s not even “Awareness”.  I can only describe it as a natural, ongoing, all pervasive “Knowingness” – Omniscience – “Omness” (is that a word?) J  But that’s just my experience…  How do you experience the depths of Being – if you care to share…

And in truth, what wants to *be* and just *is* cannot be put into words! Even though we try :) Being has to be experienced – felt – known internally.  It requires complete openness to and immersion in the depths of Being, without agenda - untethered; a willingness to dive deep, to be still, to be aware, to ask to know the Truth of Existence, to listen at the depths of Being and go beyond everything that we *think* we know conceptually - and just know intuitively with the Heart…

Are we willing to *know* with child-like wonder that we *are* the living, breathing Om of the Universe, that we *are* Beingness itself – reverberating through time and timelessness…

Now that’s a reason to get up in the morning! J

Photo
Cloud cover tinted blue
and “radial blurred.”

Life as it is...

Come bathe in the pool of Pure Awareness everyday.

No seeking, no questioning, no agenda.

Just lay back into the Vastness of Beingness that just IS.

Feel the Spaciousness holding you, breathing you, living you…

Relax into this Vastness that holds

all experience of all that is, all that you *think* you know…

Just let it all be held here,

suspended in Knowing Awake Awareness.

Be still here and listen…

What are you aware of?

Awareness aware of itSelf, as you~

as your experience…

Allow yourself to *be* Awareness itSelf…

What do you see?

What to you experience?

Just ‘This’

Life as it presently IS,

being lived…

being experienced…

just Life living itSelf…

With awareness…

With acceptance…

With compassion…

~*~

Christine

May 21, 2010

Photo - christine

Serenity's Sanctuary - The Vastness of Being

What rises and falls, rises and falls within the context of

the Vastness of Being.

What arises are adaptations, not aberrations, not even fragmentations.

What arises are conditioned reactions, based on the lack of

knowing your Beingness –

your true Presence, the backdrop for everything that happens.

~

Mind creates and functions in predictable, habitual patterns.

Being responds spontaneously in the immediacy of the moment –

to meet each moment with freshness, newness, innocence,

curiosity, delight, with un-focus – that is – it can be

distracted by whatever grabs its attention with a sense of

discovery and openness.

~

Life happens.

Conditioning happens as a result.

Unwrap yourself from the shell of conditioning and

rest in the ever-stillness of Primordial Presence.

See and experience everything within that context.

Keep sitting back into the lap of Being –

The Embrace.

~

To be free is knowing yourself *as* Being –

the Essence of our Divine Nature.

Sweet Serenity...

~

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings

Photo: Street light through Birch branches