FREEDOM 21

P. 168-175

Let me emphasize a concept that I sometimes forget. The work that we are doing together, and one of the reasons why it is so important that we are doing this together, is that our learning, our knowing, comes from experience. Not simply a thought or an idea, not even a radically different idea that we might have been influenced by in the past, but an experience and inner knowing an inner awareness or what the book might call a resonance with the Truth. Specifically, the truth of Who You Are.

I realized that since we speak in the language of thoughts and ideas, and that information that primarily comes to us through our five senses, that we sometimes begin to think if this is where the truth lies, this is where the learning is. We do not deny the learning that takes place through the intellect and the five senses, but far beyond or deeper than that. This is where we might say the real learning takes place, beyond that which the intellect can grasp or explain. 

“How do you know what you know? How do you know that you know? At this moment, are you in your knowing?” Questions such as these sort of jar us into another reality or another dimension. Even though there might not be an answer in words, we do know the truth as we are experiencing it. There is no denying it even though it cannot be comprehended.

Many of us experience, at the end of our gathering, when we take a moment to quiet the mind, and open ourselves, we recognize we are experiencing what I tend to call a “spaciousness.” Interesting that vibration of spaciousness has always been there, but it seems as if the contribution of our willingness and intention together is somehow the key that unlocks our awareness into that deeper reality.

“As we teach you to triumph over fear, to lift beyond the agreements fear has made, we are also going to invite you to say yes to what can be without, and your agreement to be without will become the basis for the next chapter of your life. “If I am no longer frightened of this, what am I? If I was no longer frightened to be this, who will I be? If I can, will I? If this can be claimed, may I? May I know? May I be? May I be in this encounter with the Divine that I know in my heart is present in all manifestation?”

Many of our fears are remnants of past learning. One of the things we are being asked to do here, certainly outside of the realm of judgment, but certainly to become aware of those fears that we have outgrown or that might appear to be seemingly meaningless to our present selves.

Now it seems to me that the essence or at least an essential aspect of this work is not to get into a struggle with our old fears, our old ideas or our old beliefs, even though we might recognize they no longer serve us. We are not throwing them out like yesterday's garbage. First of all, for whatever the reason, these fears probably served us well for awhile in our lives, but now they have become like old clothes that we have grown out of. Notice what happens if you try on a coat or a jacket it no longer fits or, let us say, the color no longer suits us, or we have outgrown that particular style. We do not become angry at the piece of clothing, we recognize that it has been useful to us for some time and now, to play on words a little bit, it has “outgrown” its usefulness. This awareness opens us up to that essential piece of work I spoke of a moment ago, and that is the continual teaching here is to raise our vibration. Not simply to do something because we think we should do it, but that from a point or “purview” as the book says, of a higher vibration, we can look at our fears, old patterns of thought and behavior, in a way that might not have been available to us before.

A Course in Miracles expresses the same message, if we can call it that, by reminding us of such things as “I could see peace instead of this.” “How could I see this differently?” “I must be mistaken for I'm not at peace.”

One of the teachings that our books make quite clear is that the way we answer those questions is through our experience and our action by moving to a place or an aspect of higher vibration. When we are there, we can view all of what is going on in a very different way. It does not condemn the old ways, but once I become aware that there is a better or less painful way of dealing with particular aspects of life, then in my awareness, I will begin to choose those ways.

How do you raise your vibration you ask? Each one of us has developed ways of doing that--listening to a piece of music, recalling a piece of poetry, playing with a child, watching your favorite TV show or movie, snuggling in a warm blanket, being in nature, picking up a favorite book that has been like an old friend. These are not just memories we speak of, these are not just thoughts and ideas, these are experiences that already live inside you-- experiences of joy, of peacefulness, of unity, of harmony, of love, of gratitude, of graciousness. When we push the button or tap into these internal resources, we do not have to force anything to happen, but, almost like magic, we are propelled to a higher vibration or a higher level of awareness. From this higher state of mind, our perception of ourselves, our interaction with others and our ability to see old fears or patterns of behavior, we can be aware in ways that we could not previously.

We realize that there are times when you might find yourself in higher or lower vibration without even being consciously aware of how you got there. What I find fascinating, to myself, is that if I discover I am in a lower vibration of anger, fear, resentment, being right, getting even, that I can usually be aware of a pattern of thought and behavior that might have gotten me there and I have the opportunity to change that. However, when I am in a state of high vibration or higher vibration and have no reason or no conscious reason for being there. I might find myself questioning that state of mind. “What did I do to get here?” or in that weird mode of self-protection that weird destructive mode of self-protection, to wonder “when is the bottom going to fall out.” “When is this joy or this high vibration of life going to come crashing down around my ears?” I better be ready for that. I know that sounds like the height of ridiculousness and yet here I am.

To apply today's learning, I am being asked not to beat myself up, to be grateful for my awareness, and instead of trying to erase, change or run away from these lower vibration thoughts and feelings, to focus on raising my vibration so I can both receive and work with these things if necessary, in a way that I could not if I was still in the swamp. 

“Each of you comes with the ability to transform your world through your encounter with it. Understand these words. You have the ability to transform your world through your encounter with it. Everything you see and encounter is there to be seen, and perhaps re-seen in encounter is there to be seen, and perhaps re-seen in the higher octave that the True Self abides in.

What does it mean to re-see? To re-conceive or re-perceive what you thought was to what is and can only be in the higher octave that you have aligned to. When you see something and you bring your ideas to it, you make it good or evil. You decide its merit, or worth, or lack thereof. You decide what things mean through your prescriptions and identifications. When you see something anew, you are being invited to release the history that you have endowed the ideas with. “This is good or evil, right or wrong.” These are things that are known by you. Some may be true, perhaps, but many of them are prescribed for you.”

As a wise teacher of mine once reminded me, “You are the meaning maker of your life; you are the one who decides.” Or you can choose to let others decide for you. “Don't worry, your leader might say, “I will explain it all to you; I will tell you what it means.” Strangely enough, that is a consolation to the small self that is now relieved of the responsibility. 

Erich Fromm in his book Escape from Freedom  suggests such horrific things like the Holocaust can be allowed to happen because people are willing to give up their freedom so they will not be held responsible.

“When you look at an example of war or conflict, you are immediately siding with one group or the next, depending on where you stand. And who is good or evil or what the outcome should be is still being prescribed by you in relation to the ideas you hold. What if you could look at a war as an event in neutrality? What would become of the reason you see? How would you invest in the picture you see if the outcome wasn’t required to be any certain thing? Now we are not lauding war. We are neutralizing it only for the purpose of this exercise. To see something and release your investment in outcome or ideology to simply see it as it is gives you “the opportunity to re-perceive it. And by re-perception or re-seeing, we are actually telling you that you may reclaim it and your relationship to it in a way that will not only transform it, but its repercussions upon the world before you.”

The reference in the paragraph above concerns itself with war, but I am going to suggest that we use the same or a similar motive reflection on ourselves. “Who or what would I be like without this thought, without this presumption, without this loyalty to a particular political party?” Who would I be without this fear? Who would I be without this relationship? Who would I be if I perceived myself differently?”

 

Peace

FREEDOM 20

P. 160-167

We began by exploring again that statement from A Course in Miracles, “You are always creating; you are either creating by default or creating consciously.”

I kept reviewing that concept in my mind, especially after watching the news, and asking myself, “How the hell did I create this mess?” And I was not getting into blame so much as I was puzzlement. I have not experienced such a sense of separateness, intolerance and sometimes downright hatred, within our country (and within myself) in a very long time. It almost appears as if we are living in two different realities or what Kellyanne Conway called “alternative facts.” As ludicrous as that sounds, we seem to be in a space where communication is almost impossible between one side and the other. Not only are beliefs and ideas so polarized, but we look at one another with bafflement having no grounds for understanding how or why another can hold the beleifs that they do.

And so the answer became a little bit more clear as I realized that much of our separation and conflict is the result of unconscious creation or creation by default. If I am asleep or unconscious, then it is my fear and my personality and my sense of separateness that is contributing to creating the world around me. At this point in our evolution, I must be conscious in order to create Unity and Love. Perhaps that will change at sometime, but for now, at least, what I observe is that the sleeping mind will create from a sense of fear and separateness, and it is only the mind that is awake that can create from the power of Unity and Love.

It also occurred to me that those of us who are awake and continuing to work on awakening and awareness have a responsibility here. We do not just claim personal awareness or personal enlightenment.

The image, or the metaphor, that came to mind was being on a boat that is sinking and I know how to swim but many others do not. Do I just save myself?

The question came up, “Okay, what do I do? I know we are in trouble as a country or a racial consciousness. I know that we are divided and even many awakened beings are living with a sense of fear and separateness. So what do I do to begin to change that?”

First it is to know that each one of us is probably being called to respond in our own unique way. When we respond from Love and a sense of Unity, we also respond with a sense of the gifts and talents we have that are the vehicle for raising the energy or the vibration of the world and those around us. And for each one of us that vehicle or the expression of higher vibration might be different from moment to moment or day today.

A simple example: Your special gift might be cooking, and so the brownies you make or the cakes you bake for a class on Thursday night or a big sale at church might be the expression of your special gift to raise the vibration of the world around you. The catch is that you need to be aware of that and to reinforce that as your Truth. To say all this is “only a cake” or this is “only a casserole I'm bringing to my neighbor” limits the vibration that you can create with that act of love. It is perfectly okay to know that on an exterior level what you are doing or what you are giving does not seem to amount to a whole lot, but on an internal level you can embrace it as a valuable and unique expression of Love. It is your intention behind the gift that truly gives it life. The personality self would like to measure it in terms of size or quantity or money, but the True Self can know the value is limitless if whatever is given is given with an open heart.

There might be things we are called to do in the external world-- go ahead and do them knowing that they have importance and value, but that the energy of transformation around those acts comes again from your willingness in your intention.

Prayer, not just asking God for something, but using your connection and your realization of the Divine Nature that you participate in, to raise the vibration of your thoughts, to raise the vibration of your perception as to how you see yourself and others. All of this contributes to Conscious Creation.

We all noted that even though we know all of this is true, and we practice it occasionally, when we can remember, that the negative side or the dark side sometimes seems so seductive or so much more real in scope and in power in the positive loving side of our nature.

It is difficult, some days, to see through that veil of Illusion but that is part of our learning and part of our challenge.

Can you see beyond the illusion of separation and fear that you yourself have created? Can you realize that you created it to participate in this false sense of safety and security that predictability seems to bring?

But there is no such thing as predictability. Helen Keller once said so beautifully, “Security is but a myth; life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.”

Many of our institutions, especially the religious ones, after their creation, spend most of their time and energy in attempting to keep themselves intact. The original intent and the energy that created this entity in the first place, soon gave way to the need to organize and control.

Many of us identified with the church or religion that was so far away from the axiom of “loving my neighbor” and the truth and power contained in The Sermon on the Mount that the religion of our upbringing carried little or none of that meaning. All that seems to occur was a growing dependence on this organization in order to be able to be OK; to be OK in our own eyes, in the eyes of others, and in the eyes of God. Without realizing it, we had given our power away to an illusion.

“If you decide today that you can access new levels of expression, new levels of experience, you can rely upon the new to support the claims you make and understand history as what it is—just an idea. Read your history books for an hour and you will see that they are slanted to the culture that dominates, and the history book seeks to affirm their view of what happened, where and when. If you look at a church and its investment in its politics, its desire to survive has created dogma that was never implicit in the original text. You are being used by confirming them to claim an idea that was just an opinion a long time ago.”

((((*One of our group was asking about the idea of “original sin” and where that came from. I'm going to explore that issue a little bit more in another piece that I will send  along. It is more complicated than I originally thought, so I'd rather not muddy the waters too much. Not to say this is not an important concept since most of us grew up with it along with the sense of unfairness about how or why we should be saddled with someone else's mistake. Along with that the whole notion of our being “born in sin” seemed to affirm for many of us that sense of “not enoughness” we carried around beginning as a child.))))) 

We are being asked to move beyond our sense of personal history in defining Who We Are. Without spending a whole lot of time focusing on the weeds in our garden or attempting to root out or even transform limiting ideas or negative beliefs, we are being asked to continually, as long as we can think about it, to affirm the truth of Who We Are. And to continue to affirm that truth until it becomes a natural part of our awareness. 

“Again, the claim “I am “free, I am free, I am free” supports you in this realization that you are not bound by history, but please ask yourself where you seek to confirm it out of the convenience of relying upon the old.

Once again, we say these words: “Behold. I make all things new.” That is the True Self in its vision, in its expectation, so as you align to it, you may begin to receive its fruits. ”

***************

Day Eight

As I side with the next few pages wish we all seem to lovingly absorb there were a few Central ideas Edward Express need little or no commentary so I will just summarize for a moment: 

“the encounter with fear, which you have had with you since birth, must now be seen as something that can be moved beyond. But this will not happen if you don’t agree to it.”

“A decision made in fear will call more fear to it by energetic action and by agreement in vibration.”

“there is an aspect of you here who has always been, who will always be, who is unafraid and doesn’t react or condemn or claim a life in fear.”

“As you announce this—“I am free, I am free, I am free,” which is the freedom of the known and all that the fear has claimed—you announce yourself in a new world, a world that doesn’t agree to fear because the vibration you hold will not align to it.”

“As you announce this—“I am free, I am free, I am free,” which is the freedom of the known and all that the fear has claimed—you announce yourself in a new world, a world that doesn’t agree to fear because the vibration you hold will not align to it.”

“The True Self, you see, doesn’t care, and is unafraid, and in her love she will support you, the self you think you are, in a level of acclimation to a way of being that will actually support you in reinforcing her and her purview over everything you see.”

“You are literally lifting your world in vibratory accord through your presence and through your action of witness upon the world you see.”

“The Divine Self is who exists at this level, and the Divine as you, the manifestation of you in form and field in vibratory accord, is what supports the claim of agreement that allows your entry. The small self, who is invested in fear, cannot enter the Kingdom because she is not in alignment to it. The exercise we bring you in this teaching is a reconciliation with who and what you are as it exists outside of fear.”

“Paul is interrupting again. “But can we exist outside of fear? This is a proclamation I can’t agree to. I am afraid of many things. I can’t imagine myself without fear, fear of this or that, and I am not alone. We fear famine, we fear war. What becomes of us when we are old and alone or infirm? What do we do? And are you saying that these things can be rid of?”

Yes, we are. We are saying that. But we must say the list that you just gave was the small self’s agenda for keeping herself away, himself away, from her divinity and his True Self. Everything you listed was a denial of the Divine or the presence of God that can be known in form and agreed to in a higher way. By your list, you are saying, “There will always be war, there will always be famine, we may grow old alone and become infirm” as if these things cannot be met by you as the True Self in a vastly different encounter than you have aligned to thus far.”

A closing thought. I began with my reflections that were triggered by watching the news. And as I was sitting with this lesson, the realization came to me, “Who is it that is writing the news? Who is it that is listening? Who is it that is affected?” It's certainly not my Divine self or our divine self.

In fact my thoughts and feeling about the news and the source of all that--our personalty, ego, drama addicted little self) seemed so contradictory to the message of the Christ who says “I will make all things new.” “What am I saying to myself when I watch the news? I reinforce my own sense of cynicism, I become self-righteous, angry, smug, separate, better than or worse than, all attributes coming from my limited perception as a personality.

PEACE 

FREEDOM 14

P. 124-129

We are so much more than we could ever imagine. 

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Eph 3:20

Unfortunately, the translations of scripture seem to support the idea of separateness. We realize in our work together that when mention is made of God or the Divine, we are referring to the Divine Nature within each one of us. It is not separate from Who We Are- it is Who We Are.

It is probably very easy to see how this sense of separateness from the Divine permeates the very nature of our being as we have been taught. A major aspect of the lessons we are learning here is to go beyond the language, the thought, the idea, the belief of separation.

“Once you attend to the language we use in realization, the claims we make for you that you speak on our behalf for your own well-being are known by you in a much deeper way. The claim “I am here,” the Divine Self in purview, may be uttered in a castaway fashion. It may be uttered in truth. When it is uttered in realization, it becomes the memory that will solve all your problems, because all your problems, we suggest, are the result of misidentification with who and what you think you are. The I Am self, the one who is here, the one who is free, the one who knows her name, has come as you to bring forth the value of her expression, his essence, to support a world in change.”

There is a section of that paragraph above that expresses the heart of this work:

“The claim “I am here,” the Divine Self in purview, may be uttered in a castaway fashion. It may be uttered in truth. When it is uttered in realization, it becomes the memory that will solve all your problems, because all your problems, we suggest, are the result of misidentification with who and what you think you are.”

******

“Now we would like you to imagine that this aspect of you, the True Self as you, is in fact boundless. He has no edges, she holds no limitations, and her awareness of herself in a small way is no more challenging to her than her awareness of herself in a vast way. Imagine that the light you are, the Divine Self that you are, is now expanding and increasing in value and vibration. As you expand, everything that you encounter and is known by you is known by you in truth. You are the one who is free and, consequently, has the right to announce herself “before all she sees to claim the liberation that is inherent in the divinity of all matter.”

The only way we can truly resonate with that one is through experience. We can do all sorts of work and study around that Truth and yet it is only the experience of knowing you are greater than anything your intellect can grasp that affirms the truth for us.

Now, as usual, that is going to seem overpowering to the personality self, but we are not attempting to teach the personality self that it is Divine. Although the personality self, since it is a part of creation, is imbued with the essence of vinity that is not its nature. Its nature is to be grounded in matter and to be an expression of limitation rather than infinity.

It is only the Divine self that knows the Divine self and the Divine self already knows its truth. So here we are again on the edge of paradox, identifying ourselves with that aspect of self which A Course in Miracles calls “the decider” or that some on the spiritual path might refer to as the “Observer consciousness” or the Witness. It is that aspect of self from which the decision comes of who or what it is we choose to identify with. Whether we realize it or not we make this choice every moment of our lives.

Again, the personality or the small self tends to make this whole process quite difficult, but as we have learned before being in your Divine wisdom is not necessarily connected with drama. It can be as simple as recognizing that you are at peace; it can be as simple as that wonderful example from Thic Nyat Han of washing the dishes and imagining that each dish is a little baby Buddha. It can be as simple as walking outdoors, appreciating the freshness of the air, the sunshine, the crinkle of the leaves under your feet, the smile of a stranger, the laughter of a child.

“On this day I choose to be remembered as my True Self in service to the world before me. On this day I choose to give permission to my Divine Self to be in expansion and in song for the awakening of humanity to claim itself in unity with its Source. As I say yes, I say yes to all I encounter, yes to all I see, yes to all that may be known, yes to all that may be claimed in the highest octave I am available to be in broadcast with. I know who I am in truth. I know what I am in truth. I know how I serve in truth. I am free. I am free. I am free.”

In this work we do together it is very possible to know that the personality self, the ego consciousness, by its very nature lives in linear time and also to know that there is awareness and aspect of self the lives beyond the limitation of linear time. That does not have to be difficult or confusing. It would be as if you were teaching a child to read, and what you might do is to put yourself on their level of understanding--all the alphabets and words and pronunciation and teach from that awareness, but also knowing, at the same time, that you have a much larger or broader perspective. Your method of teaching does not have to interfere or contradict what you are already aware of. An interesting aside to that is that you would not expect a child who is first learning to read to pick up a copy of War and Peace and to understand it. (Again, that is not a judgment, simply an awareness. 

I recall hearing a story about a child talking to one of his parents and the child related it to told the story this way: Pretend that you're in a forest and all of a sudden a wild animal comes out of the trees and starts chasing you and you run and you run and you run and you come to the edge of a cliff and you look down and there are rocks and alligators down there and you know if you jump off the cliff you're going to get eaten but if you stay where you are you are going to be eating too. What are you going to do?”

And the parent thought and thought and  was completely flummoxed. “If I stay I'm going to be eating if I jump I'm going to be eaten.” He could see no way out.

So he turned to the child and said, “What would you do?” and she said,  “I would stop pretending.” 

“Stop pretending you are not who you are. Stop lying to yourselves and saying you are your pain, you are your suffering, you are your fear. Stop saying to yourself that you have no right to claim the Kingdom. That is a claim of fear. We are saying this for you now, wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you think you have done or could be accused of. Whatever you have named yourself as in limitation, we say this to you. We will not agree to you anymore at the level of fear. We will not support you anymore in acquiring more fear. We will not say yes to it. And we say this in love. We know who you are, even when you deny it, and we will not agree to the shame, the blistering fear, the condemnation of your fellows that humanity has wrought, because the price you pay for this is far too great. You are deeply loved. The one you would find the most horrible on this plane is deeply loved. We suggest this to you. The Divine as you is here, is here, is here, and must be sung.”

I have not been able to track down the origins of this prayer but I remember learning it years ago as I began my metaphysical studies. It is simply this:

I am whole; I am filled with light. I am perfect; I am filled with light. I am surrounded by the Pure White Light of Christ. Nothing but good shall come to me, nothing but good shall flow from me. I give thanks; I give thanks; I give thanks.

Even fear can be loved and transformed. Fear is simply an over identification with the limited personality self. The personality or the ego is simply doing what personalities and egos do. When I recognize that, I allow myself to rise above the struggle. I begin to  notice even those aspects of self that live in limitation are performing their role perfectly. 

Yes, we are your teachers and we are your teachers because you have asked us to be so for you, but we do not give you something you don't have already. We hope to lead out of you what already exists.  (the real meaning of “education” is to “lead out of.”)

If we can use an example, which by the way is it is a is not a ‘perfect’ example. There are no perfect metaphors, so please do not argue with this one but let it teach you what it can. 

Suppose you are a child learning to walk. We can hold your hand; we can let you find your balance; we can help you up if you fall, but the learning is yours. We cannot learn that for you. 

Now in some ways you already know how to walk and to balance, but at the same time you must teach your muscles and your muscle memory how to be able to put that knowing into practice. There is no judgement involved here. There is no “better than or worse than.” And you will learn to walk or you will learn to teach yourself to walk in your own unique way.

We ended on this note concerning absolution and confession, and we realize that those words carry with them some very old and mistaken notions. Confession also means “expression”--expression or acknowledgment of realizing I have “missed the mark.”  So it is bringing into consciousness any thought or idea or pattern of behavior that is interfering with me acknowledging the truth of who I am. Now we understand that some of that awareness might be painful, but it is only painful if it is kept hidden. It is like a pebble in your shoe, once you take it out of your shoe it's still a pebble but it's no longer causing you pain or discomfort. It is like an irritating grain of sand to an oyster, but which eventually turns into a pearl. Absolution is simply the washing clear of any leftover bits and pieces a shame, blame or guilt that might remain after the expression or confession is made.

We recognize this is not necessarily a one shot deal. Because you have learned in lower vibration over and over and over again, there are times with certain incidents in your life, or certain memories or experiences, that they might need to be visited more than once to be expressed to be absolved and to be healed. Again this is not a judgment, it is simply the awareness that some wounds need more attention than others.

We cannot ignore our supposed woundedness. In the long run, we might realize it is an illusion, but sometimes we will only realize that after the healing has taken place. 

We leave you this now in love and peace and gratitude

Thank you; thank you; thank you 

AUTHENTICITY FREEDOM 12

P, 102-108

Major theme here is the distinction between wisdom and information. It is such a powerful theme and one which we keep coming back to because the personality and the intellect keep falling back into the syndrome of “inquiring minds want to know,” that it might overshadow another teaching contained in our work today, and that is having a body, a physical manifestation, and all that entails.

So I’m going to explore that one first even though it is a little out of synch.

“Your authenticity also includes the true being you are that is expressed by you on this plane, your innate abilities, your true concerns. The ability to love and caress and to hold another in a body is a deep gift, and one you must be grateful for. To look upon the stars and to bathe in the sea, to feel the air upon you as the wind blows is a wonderful gift, and the sensual self, the skin and bone self, the one who feels and sees, can agree to the pleasures that may be claimed while in a body on this manifestation or plane of being.”

I find that passage absolutely beautiful. There have been so many forms of spiritual teaching that have either denied, ignored or even demonized the body and the physical world. Here what we are being asked to do is to realize the sanctity, the sacredness of all creation. I guess in some ways this directive leads us to revel in our sensuality, but not become lost in it. It is who you are but it is not all that you are.

I am reminded of a marvelous quote from the Jesuit Mystic Teihard de Chardin when he said “It is our right and our duty to throw ourselves into the things of the Earth.”

“The teaching you receive today is going to serve you in two ways, we suspect. It’s going to claim you as the one who may know the potential that may now be claimed, and in acceptance of the aspects of the self that have come in form and are often ignored by you. To be a priest does not mean to be celibate. To be a nun does not mean you marry the invisible only. The realization of the Divine in material form in fact renders the world as your lover in a higher way. But you may still know yourself in form, and express the form, and know it in its humanity, the Divine as you in form. The form itself is holy, and humanity, we would suggest, must then be holy as well.”

I could probably meditate on that last passage forever. 

And now onward and upward exploring information or intellectual knowledge and it's spiritual counterpart Inner Knowing and Wisdom.

“As we teach you today about authenticity, which is the title of this chapter, we teach you what authenticity truly means: To be as you are in truth, without the requirements that you have inherited for one purpose—to sing the song of truth, which claims you in freedom. If you understand this, the passage we have taken you on sequentially in our texts has been to liberation and embodiment because you cannot have one without the other.”

How fascinating that the guides would equate liberation with embodiment. Also going beyond the normally accepted norms of spirituality to suggest that the world and the lessons created by Spirit and manifested in the material world, including our own physical bodies, are all part of the journey.

I recall even Saint Francis referred to his body as “poor brother ass.”

It is important to note here as well that even though wisdom is being called a higher knowing, we are not denying the power of the intellect or even the necessity for information gathering or intellectual knowing.

It has been my personal experience as one who approached life quite often as a scientist, in very rational terms, that when I entered into the realm of the spiritual, the metaphysical, that it was very helpful for me to have some sort of intellectual framework to begin with. In recent years I have found myself becoming more and more comfortable with mystery; more and more comfortable with the stuff that the thinking mind cannot grasp and yet which somehow I still know.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.” Einstein

So, for example, when an artist creates she/he might have an idea, a concept or a set of actions in mind as to where or how to begin and then in this Act of Creation, which is beyond thought, he or she Embraces that Realm of the energy of creation and allows it to flow to and through him or her. Depending upon the discipline that most involves their consciousness decides in a way what will be produced--  a poem, a song, a painting, sculpture, a concerto, a photograph or an action as simple as looking at a leaf, smelling a flower, holding a child. We all have to most gorgeous of images already in our minds. We all have symphonies playing which we hardly ever listen to. The openness, the spaciousness, the Wonder is beyond description although no less true then that which can be explained in words.

We had sort of a “mini movie night” reflecting on the movie Cocoon where these extraterrestrial beings recognize themselves as beings of light and that the bodies were simply sort of some external clothing that they could unzip and shine like they really are. I was also reminded of another science fiction oldie called Starman with Jeff Bridges who plays an alien who comes to Earth who is also a being of light but in order to be able to interact with Earthlings has to manifest a physical body and the awkwardness he has to go through in trying on these “new clothes.” There is one beautiful scene where he tastes ice cream and Dutch apple pie for the first time and the look of drooling ecstasy on his face is priceless.

A movie called the Age of Adeline was also mentioned about a woman who, through a freak accident, stops aging. So always feel free to dig through that old collection of DVD’s. Who knows what Spiritual Treasures you might find. 

“Each of you here, each of you encountering these words, is in some ways requesting access to information. You assume that information will be the key to wisdom. Information is not the key to wisdom. Knowing is.(not intellectual knowing or factual/provable information) And the claim we have offered you many times—“I am in my knowing”—will support you in this request being answered, but it rarely comes through information.”

Claiming “I know who I am etc.” is not a wish or desire to manifest the truth, it is claiming your alignment to the truth that already exists. We cannot emphasize this often enough. Within your ability to choose you are aligning yourself to the truth of Who You Are, no matter what you might be feeling, no matter what might be going on in the outside world, no matter what your history might be telling you. We do not deny the importance of any of those, and yet we remind you again that is not who you are.

“Anything can be experienced. If you want to go ride on the back of a whale, you may find a way to do so. Anything may be known. You may find a way to claim this knowing. But what is experienced and known, we would suggest, that is in requirement for growth, for your growth and for your availability to be expressed in a high way, are those things that will be met in agreement in your field, and then in manifestation.”

That sounded very cryptic to me at first, but what it seems to be saying to me is something we have heard many times in different ways: that the soul has created an agenda for you, a series of lessons that you have chosen to learn in your stay in Planet Earth. The more or the closely we are aligned to the truth of Who We Are, the easier it is for those lessons to manifest in the physical world and the easier it will be to recognize and work with them as they come along. The higher vibration that we embrace, the more smoothly it becomes to work with whatever shows up in life because none of that is by chance. It is all in what we call “Divine Order” because the soul has already chosen the lessons we need to learn.

“Please do not mistake wisdom for information. Wisdom comes through experience and alignment, and, really, in no other way. Now, you may meet a wise man who has never gone to school. You may meet a fool with many degrees upon her wall. It really matters not what level of education you have had. It matters greatly your availability to learn, and your availability to learn, we would suggest, will come from your willingness to not know, to be available to ignorance so that you may learn.”

I am reminded when I first got sober when my first sponsor in AA said to me, “Gerry, I want you to take all those degrees off your wall and put them in a closet somewhere. I will let you know when you can put them back up.”

I did not realize the depth of what he was saying but I did it anyway. The Wisdom he gave me reminds me that he could have written that last paragraph. He could have written it just for me.

Peace