Ageless and Brainless :) - a meandering

Last week I had two MRIs,
one for the brain, (to see if I actually had one :))))
and the other the lumbar spine because of the problems
I've been having with balance and walking and tingling
in my legs, and ache in the sacrum...

The night of the MRIs I had a felt sense that there is something
within that doesn't *feel* 75.  I guess what the non-dualists
call "The Self."  It's like there's something inside the body-me
that doesn't age - is Ageless.  Maybe some call it the Soul.
The Inner Being, the Inner Spirit, The Essence, The Ineffable, etc.

But it's like I became *aware* of its Presence.
I woke? :):):):)

I'm aware that my/the body *is* aging, declining, losing its
functioning, including my brain/mind.  But there is this other 
"me" (non-dualists won't like that) - which isn't another "me" -
which isn't "me" - but something that isn't aging - watching all
this happen - which I now call "The Watcher" :)
But which is also known as The Source, the Infinite Self, and
sits at the very Core of my Being behind the Heart...

But this awareness of that didn't make "me" *feel* any better
physically.  Physically I'm still declining...

~

It also occurred to me, in that same flow that night, that the
brain *has* to be connected to, or *is* the mind.
(I have been told otherwise - that the mind is not the brain.)
You can't locate the mind - although people seem to point to
the head.  But it's apparently free-floating somewhere,
I guess... :)

But the brain has a "thinking" function...
I contemplated that the mind and the brain may not be
separate entities...
because... when the brain (the physical organ) starts to not
function properly, then the "thinking" function (of the brain)
is diminished or diminishing.  Thinking becomes garbled,
mixed up and unclear.  You lose cognition.
Then there's also a memory function of the brain, which also
deteriorates and you lose your memory because that section of
the brain has lost its functioning.  And there is a language function,
that when it declines you begin to lose your words, etc.
Hopefully you get where I'm going. :)

The mental functions apparently correlate information,
which become thoughts (?)

Where are these thoughts coming from now - once the brain
starts to deteriorate - is there a separate thing called mind - that
thinks....  hmmmmm

Geez - maybe I need an MRI of the brain more often.
It seemed to open up a new pathway?  LOLOLOL

Just ramblings, I know - with a little humor on the side...

But still....
something to ponder....

Mystic Meandering
April 5, 2025

~

Photo from the Internet

 

Living Silence - Robert Sardello

There is a Living Silence that hears the cry of the Soul.

Each of us has a companion-presence.  Something that is
always with us.  The companion-presence is Silence.
We need to nurture companionship with it [commune with it].

Silence was here before everything else, and it envelopes
everything else.  Silence is prior to sound, not the cessation
of sound.  If we drop into the quietness [within] for just a moment,
we feel the presence of Silence as an invitation.

As we accept the invitation and enter the mystery of Silence,
its presence resonates through the fibers of our flesh while
extending beyond the flesh to the deepest depths of the Soul
inwardly, and to the outermost reaches of the Cosmos
outwardly.  The inward silence of Solitude meets up with the

Great Silence of Cosmic Wisdom.  When we don't cultivate
the meeting point, we lose access to the presence
of the Silence.  Without Silence we are lost and cannot get still
enough to find our way back.

Silence bears the wholeness we are looking for...
Silence goes to the deepest depths of the Soul...

[In communion with the Silence] we feel a new attunement to
Spirit as a directly felt reality.  We have a bodily perception of
being welcomed into the vastness and fecundity of Silence. 
When we find the entry into the large stillness our lives are
irrevocably changed, a transition takes place.  The experience
comes with astonishing intimacy, that feels like the finding of
a long lost beloved.

Silence is palpable.  It's a living presence. It has a rhythm all
its own.  The currents of Silence weave polarities and opposites
and contradictions together.  Within Silence everything resonates
in true intimacy and mystery.

Our Soul connection with Silence is a form of sympathetic
resonance with the currents of Silence [the rhythm and pulsing
of Silence].  We enter into the deepest feeling of communing...

We, along with everything else, are within Silence.
We are held within a tender, loving invisible presence...
A vivid Presence of Silence...

This realm of Silence is pregnant with the ever-living Mystery.
It is the deepest feeling of communing, touched by the 
Ineffable, that keeps us intimately bound with the truth of our
Core Being, the very Essence of our Being; an interiority that
has been waiting for us.

Robert Sardello

Excerpts from: Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Inner Sanctuary - Mirabai Starr

There is a secret place.
A radiant sanctuary...

This magnificent refuge is inside you.

Enter

Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway.

Be bold.  Be humble.

Put away the incense and forget the incantation
they taught you.  Ask no permission from the
authorities.

Slip away...

Close your eyes and follow your breath
to the still place that leads to the invisible path
that leads you home.

Listen...

Softly, the One you love is calling...

Listen...

At first you will only hear traces of his [her] Voice.
Love letters he [she] drops for you in hiding places -
in the sun dipping down below the horizon,
in the nameless sorrow that fills your heart when you
wake in the night and remember that the world has gone
to war and you are powerless to break up the fight.

Let the idle chatter between friends drop down to
what matters.

Listen...

his [her] Voice will come closer.
A whisper you're almost sure is meant for you
fading in and out of the cacophony of thoughts
clearer in the silent space between them.

Listen...

Be brave and walk through the country of your own
wild heart.
Be gentle and know that you know nothing.

Be still...

Listen...

Keep walking...

Crossing the moat between this world and that...

This is The Beloved reclining in the innermost chamber,
waiting for you...

The Beloved has chosen for his [her] dwelling place
the core of your own being because that is the single

most beautiful place in all creation.

Enter the center of your Soul...

Mirabai Starr

Excerpts from the Introduction to:

The Interior Castle
by St. Teresa of Avila

translation by Mirabai Starr

~

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering
2012

 

"The Silence"...

I come to sit - called by - "The Silence" within -
to rest in the deep Core of my being,
my refuge...
to listen to the "Sacred Silence" of an Alive Cosmos;
to be held in that Rhythm - the in-breath and out-breath
of Life...

I come to feel the depths of Sacred Silence;

to be immersed in the vast Stillness of the Inner Cosmos;
to lay the burdens of the heart down -
and just rest...

Held and supported by the Universe in
some mysterious way - unknown to me...

Mystic Meandering

March 22, 2022

~

Photo from the Internet

 

Peaceful Presence - a meandering...

Suddenly peace overtook me and I was no longer
engaged in mental thrashings about life circumstances...
at least in that momentary, fleeting moment...

And I thought to myself:
Finally, Peace has come!

I actually fell into a twilight sleep -
aware that I was at last at peace/peaceful,
without trying to be peaceful, just basking
in the unbidden feeling of being at peace.
It was wonderful -
and somehow I knew that everything is deeply okay;
deeply peaceful at its core; at its essence...

Was this real, a dream, a mystical experience?

I understood that underneath the tempests of the mind
there is an abiding peace at the core of our being;
lost to us most of the time, to our awareness,
by the crashing waves of the mind's turmoil, but can be
felt in between the waves; like the pause between the
breaths.  There is a peaceful pause that sustains itself

 - even if not felt...

Everything is at peace at its core, but you can't try to get
there, you can only allow it to come through, to just
receive it when it emerges/arises on its own within,
and make yourself available to it when it does...

If only for one fleeting moment...

Mystic Meandering 
Jan. 7, 2023
around 3pm

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Cosmic Origin...

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 - "in-lightened" from within.

The Cosmic Vibration is an
unborn, inexplicable,
 "un-dualating" energy that just IS -
that has always existed -
that is the gateway to
knowing our true Essence...

...to experiencing
a truer Vibration that lies at
the Core of our Being;
the "Mother Energy" of
our Cosmology;
the place of no beginning, or ending,
only the infinity of the ongoing moment.

Dissolve into your Cosmic Origins...
Return to your "roots"; a naked
Luminous, ever-present vibration
of Loving Aliveness...

Entrain with the Maternal Heart,
where the ripples of Love's energy,
form and expand,
pulsating the Rhythm within and through you...

Our Cosmic Origin...

Mystic Meandering
2018

~

Photo - Northern Lights over Yellowknife,
Northwest Terr., Canada

 

Knock-Knock...

What if I quit knocking at the door of
The Beloved - address unknown...
Would The Beloved still come?

Why do I keep trying so hard?
Doesn't The Beloved already know that I'm here?

So why do I need to keep coming to the door,
begging, like a beggar in the night,
whispering outside the door;
like throwing stones at a window,
trying to entice my "lover" to notice that
I am standing outside - waiting -
unseen, unheard...

knock-knock

What if I quit knocking at the door?
Would The Beloved not hear the longing of my Heart?

Would The Beloved still come?

~

...a door within my Heart opens as if by its own accord...
The Beloved is here - waiting for me
in the deeper Silence at the Core of my Being,
at the Inner Door,
where only a whisper is heard...

Maybe I was knocking at the wrong door...

knock-knock

Mystic Meandering
Sept. 5, 2022

~

Photo - yes that's me :)

 

A New Dance - a meandering

I thought I had to follow a prescribed path of "enlightenment."
I thought I had to climb the highest "spiritual" mountain seeking
the "Truth."
I thought I had to find the "right" door, and then
I thought I had to knock and beg for it to open.
I thought I was being kept from the "Truth" -
that only the privileged "spiritual" elite could know...

My experience showed me otherwise...

I only had to turn inward to the Inner Sanctuary of my own Being
and truly See what was there - the "Mystery" Itself...

Over many years of "turning inward" to the Silence at my core,
I discovered that I did not need to be "purified" in order to be an
expression of "The Mystery"; I did not have to become a "perfect"
human being, or polish my heart.  My psychological wounds, my
samskaras, and conditioning still arise... and yet - I realized that
I am still a "Divine Vibration" in form...  Every part of me, and you,
vibrates subtly with the living Cosmos - even if not directly felt at
any given moment. 

An incredible mystery of Being...

In the deeper spaces of our Being we are enveloped in "The Mystery"
from which each one of our unique expressions of 
that "Mystery" arises...

Sometimes all I do to feel it, is to sit quietly in the deep Silence at
the core of my Being, my Inner Sanctuary, listening and attuning to
the Primordial Rhythm:
The Deeper Silence
The inbreath and the outbreath,
the Stillness of Being,
The Rhythm of birth, life, death, expansion and contraction.
In that space I feel suspended (held) in that Cosmic Rhythm; a
self-creating energy, expressing the rhythm of the
"Mystery" Itself...

And there I discovered that the Essence of our very Being is beyond
the intermediaries of the earthly "murtis" of our worship...

I am having to learn to move to a different Rhythm now,

to dance with the Mysteries of the Inner Cosmos...
Immersing myself in the Primordial Energy of
an Alive Cosmos - ever-unfolding into a new
Cosmology of Being...

Mystic Meandering
March 29, 2022

~

Photo from the Internet

Sing Your Song - Progoff/Sinetar

A creative journey grows out of the seed of
one's song.  We need that song from you,
the song that only you can sing.

Ira Progoff

~

.....power comes from harmony with [our] inner
world...  The relationship is nurtured in silence, in
solitude, in reflection...

People who overcome great difficulties have a trusted,
trusting relationship with themselves...  They are aware
of the inner core of themselves that is always there,
that never dies...

Marsha Sinetar

With thanks to Heron Dance

 

"Sacred Silence"...

I come to sit - called by "The Silence" within -
to rest in the deep Core of my Being,
my refuge...

to listen to the "Sacred Silence" of an Alive Cosmos;
to be held in that Rhythm ~ the in-breath and out-breath
of Life...

Lately,
I come to sit - to mourn the losses of life
and losses of ways of life in a a troubled world;
to mourn the living and the dead,
for the suffering they have endured;
for the collective grief - 
unending grief...

But mostly,
I come to sit - to feel the depths of Sacred Silence;
to be immersed in the vast Stillness of the Inner Cosmos;
to lay the burdens of the heart down -
and just rest...

Held and supported by the Universe in
some mysterious way...

Mystic Meandering
March 20, 2022

~

Photo from the Internet

 

Divine Wind...

This body, the vehicle I inhabit,
needs deep rest...

Relief - from the constant stimulation of life and living -
and the unbalance that it brings...
Shutting out the "worldwind" that spins
 out of control around me;
Not obliged to enter its chaotic storms,
I turn to the rhythmic pace of the Soul...
The Holy Space...

Even my Soul needs quiet "shelter"...
Respite - from the endless sucking winds of the demands of
others who are lost in an addiction to themselves...
Empty shells wanting to be filled;
grasping at me, drowning in their dark, distorted shadow,
as they try to pull me under to save them from themselves -

like hungry ghosts...

And my Heart needs to feel the Stillness
at the Core of my Being - again;
to hear the comforting sound of the Divine Wind,
restoring me to
sanity and wellness of being;
whispering Life into my Heart,
as I surrender
to its soft, silent Breeze...

Mystic Meandering
January 12, 2022

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

A Prayer...

Call my name...  Call my name...

My unborn name...

The name that only You know...

When I danced with the unnamed stars
and unknown galaxies...

Let me hear Your voice again...

Let me sink into Your depths...
Let me feel the warm glow of Your
hidden light...
Let me hear the soft sound of Your
unplayed music -
dancing through the Cosmos -
before You were called
Shakti, Shiva, The Buddha, Allah, The Christ;
or however You reveal Yourself,
in the land of myths and stories...

Let me rest in
Your Primal Energy at the Core of my Being,
That which infuses all life
and lights everything from within.
The Breath of the Eternal Source...

Amen

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 7, 2021

Photo from the Internet

 

Meditation- LaMotte & Chopra

Real meditation does not 'by-pass' pain. Meditation
penetrates into the nectar of pain.  Meditators do not
rise above pain, they surrender to its core.  At the center
of pain is the flowering of boundless energy.  Ananda isn't
a passing mood or a temporary emotional state.
Ananda is the juice of pure Existence.
It glows in the dark, the beyond within.  Transcendence is
not above.  It is the hollow in the seed.

Fred LaMotte
Uradiance

~

Meditation isn't something otherworldly.  It is quite natural
and effortless.  Meditation mode exists in everyone.

Meditation is a journey, not just a calm break from one's
daily routine.  It's an inner journey of "waking up" (becoming
more conscious, more aware).  It affects every aspect of your
well-being.

There is a difference between shallow silence and deep silence.
Deep silence takes you deep into silent Awareness - reconnecting
to the totality of Consciousness.

As meditation unfolds you see that Existence can take care of you.
"Life"/Consciousness always knows what to do.

Deepak Chopra

Excerpts from: Total Meditation

~

Anxiety, fear, trauma, stress cause us to be out of focus with
the Sacred within, and we become distressed.  We have to keep
refocusing on the Sacred within - often through meditation -
allowing the Sacred Energies to embody us...

Be at peace...

Everything is taken care of...
No need to worry or stress about anything.
Everything is "covered" (taken care of)
forever and ever...

Focus only on the Sacred Energies
at the Core of your Being...
There is nothing you can do...

Trust the Energies...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Sept. 17, 2021

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

The Silent Stream...

Come to Rest in the Silent Stream...
In the Inner Stream of Silence, the place of Deep Rest...

The Silent Stream is your refuge...
Letting go of the surface chaos,
moving into deeper rhythms;
the Flow and Rhythm at the core of your Being...
Allow your body to rest and align with that Rhythm...

More than ever now, you need Deep Rest and Deep Silence...

Do not allow yourself to be disturbed or disrupted by anything,
including your own emotions..

Nothing else matters now, except taking refuge in
the Silence of Deep Rest...
There you are held... cradled beyond
comprehension - only felt, and experienced...

Rest in the deeper Mystery of Being...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
Sept. 2021

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

At the Core of Being...

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

~

Just Being

There is utter awareness
of all life, all existence,
not as form,
but
the felt sense of the
ISness of Being ~

of Life

~

Living

~

In the Silence of
this dynamic Stillness
one is aware of
to cocooning hush
of The Mystery,
of Primordial Existence
that holds the unmanifest
in the comfort of
Its Womb

before its birth
into form

~

In this Stillness
the rhythmic Breath

of the Cosmos
pulses like
waves

~

The originating Cosmic energies
of an Alive Cosmos
generate themselves
into existence
spiraling outward
from the
Core ~

giving birth to itself
through spiraling open its petals,
blossoming into time and space

~

All Existence is at
the Core of our Being ~

In every atom, every cell...

We are the living Cosmos...

~

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 ~

~

At the Core of Being

there is only

Aliveness
Stillness
Silence
Peace
Love
Life

It is who we are...

~*~

Namaste
_/\_

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings

Feb. 12, 2015

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Dissolve - Fred LaMotte

Rosette Nebula - From: The Invisible Universe
by David Malin

 Stars dissolve into a rose. A rose dissolves into stars. Ask Dante.

The solution is dissolution.  What dissolves?  Separateness.

I am not my skin color.  I am not my tribe.  I am not even my
gender.  I wear these veils and garments, just as I have a red
shirt or a Yankees cap on: but they are not my Self.

Nor am I my political party, my nation, or my religion.  And I
am not my ancestors.  These are marvelous incidents, but not
my Essence.  The core of my existence is prior to labels,
identifications, masks.  Yes, I enjoy wearing them, dancing in
them, playing in their forms.  I need not renounce them,
because they were never really "mine" to begin with.  In deep
meditation, these forms dissolve like the dreams they are.
Then I Am.

In deep meditation, the core of existence reveals itself as the
One who cannot be divided into races, tribes, religions, parties,
yet who plays in them all as light playing in a kaleidoscope.
The revelation transcends thought and imagination.  It is the
Self-image of the Imageless.  Groundless, brilliant, empty, it
is nowhere and everywhere.  It is the Holy of Holies.

Emerging from meditation, I need no longer look for that place.
I look from that place.  Then it is impossible to identify any
color or creed, any political or spiritual movement, as "me."
I am simply who Am.

The verb "Am" is solid as a diamond, boundless as the sky.
Who needs to say, "I Am a man, I Am a liberal, I Am a Buddhist,
I Am a white or a black?  Not I.  Just Am.  Those labels of
identity make the mind small.  No noun, no-thing, ever really
follows the verb To Be.

Fred LaMottte
Uradiance

"Shadow Love"...

 Don't be fooled by the magician's love -
a shadow love that uses love to manipulate and control.

Your responsibility is to be real, authentic -
maintaining integrity -
unshattered by feigned affection...

There is great healing in this.

Don't allow love to be a pawn, manipulated
by deluded hearts of
misdirected energies and perceptions.

Don't aspire to love - but aspire to be real.

When love is just a covering,
a pretense, it dissipates.
Let love's shadow dissipate to reveal
what's beyond...

There is something beyond "love"
as we define love.

It is Presence...

Being genuinely present from
the Core of your Being...

Love is that Presence - loving us...

Mystic Meandering
Meditative Writings
2004

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Peace...

 Even in the midst of chaos there is Peace...
Even in the midst of complexity there is Simplicity...
Even in the midst of confusion there is Stability...

Stay rooted in your Eternal Nature at the 
Core of your Being...

MM

The Divine "Puddle"...

 Melt into the "puddle" of your Inner Being,
the Great Silence and Stillness of "The Mystery."
Free of "imposed tensions" from
the chaotic social disorder
and the muttering mentations of the mind.
Enter the quiet realm of the Nameless within.

Rest - there...

Beyond "traditions" of belief and thinking...
Beyond "disciplines"
that only scratch the surface.
Just feel the awareness of the
deep core of your Being,
where the Great Silence abides.
That is your refuge...

Just be - there...

Untouched - Unscathed...

Aware only of the Great Stillness that you are...

Just be the "puddle" -
fluid, calm, undisturbed -
just Resting - there...

And if you dare,
play quietly - there...

In the Divine "Puddle" :)

Mystic Meandering

Nov. 26, 2020

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

"The Friend" - "The Guru"...

"The Friend" - "The Guru"
is not a person -
but the Presence at the Core of your Being...

"The Friend" - "The Guru"
knows your Heart
and responds to your Heart
with the felt sense of Presence -
embodied...

"The Friend" - "The Guru"
is seen only with "Felt Sight"*
from within...

It holds no identity, no title, no status
and no space or distance
from you...

You are always sustained in
The Silence of "The Friend" - "The Guru."

Get to know "The Friend" - "The Guru",
which is the Silence at the Core of your Being...
It will teach you what you need to know...'

Sit with "The Friend."

Befriend "The Friend."
Do not look to the world
to befriend you...

Mystic Meandering

Aug 2020

*Note - Thank you to Ginny Lonsdale
for her words "Felt Sight" :)

See her wonderful website/blog with
writings and poetry @
Footnote from a Moment

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering