What Wants to Emerge in Your Life Right Now?

The Zen Purr Master contemplates possibilities.

“There are unknown forces within nature; when we give ourselves wholly to her, without reserve, she leads them to us; she shows us those forms which our watching eyes do not see, which our intelligence does not understand or suspect.”

— Auguste Rodin

The Universe is in constant communication with us. But we are the last to the party. We are the ones who are asleep. We don’t hear what is already speaking. We have filled our ears with the junk of conventional thought and limited ideas. We have let our eyes be seduced by the pornography of a commercial of a marketplace vision that is all illusion and no substance. Awake, oh sleeper, and rise from the dead.

Do you think you know what your life is about? Do you have a set of beliefs that allow you to function well in this world? Think again. Most of us are settling for so much less, even if we live in mansions and seem to have the American Dream locked up in our bank vaults. But life is so much more than this. When you learn to listen to your life, and let go of the assumptions you’ve been basing your decisions on, there is a vast untapped mystery that calls you, like a lover calling you to the intimate wilderness of communion with the ever expanding, ever evolving Life Force that we often call God. This is the evolutionary imperative of the spirit. You are greater than you yet know, richer than anything you can imagine, more powerful than any power you’ve yet tapped into, and more dazzlingly beautiful than a thousand diamonds strung like stars around an elegant woman’s neck.

Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.

—William James

“Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.”

— William James

I propose to you that there is something within you, a spiritual reality that you have passed by, ignored, or forgotten. This is a greater intelligence that holds a larger story than the one you have been living by. It holds out a hope more miraculous than you yet realize. You can discover clues to its existence, learn to find ways to access it and make it real in your own life. 

Imagine what it might feel like to experience the heartbeat of grace. In that moment all comes together, and a river of grace carries me. I am surrounded by light, and the light illumines everything. Anything is possible, and the creative life force pulses in my veins. Even the most mundane object is suffused with heavenly beauty, and an ecstatic perception of order and unity allows me to know that “all is well and all will be well and all manner of things will be well.” The glory infuses me with creative ideas, yet at the same time I am immersed in an ocean of peace. I see wholeness, perfection, and completion where I once saw brokenness, imperfection, and fragmentation. I am in the flow of grace, and every cell of my body is alive with it. Every thought I think and every action I take partakes of this heavenly gift. “Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common bush is afire with God.” I taste heaven on earth and eternity in this moment. I unfold like a flower and the heart of the rose reveals its golden treasure…

At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm, made up of wave forms and resonances, which is absolutely individual and unique, and yet which connects us to everything in the universe. The act of getting in touch with this pulse can transform our personal experience and in some way alter the world around us.

—George Leonard (The Silent Pulse pg 11)

“At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm, made up of wave forms and resonances, which is absolutely individual and unique, and yet which connects us to everything in the universe. The act of getting in touch with this pulse can transform our personal experience and in some way alter the world around us.”

— George Leonard

I believe you don’t have to travel to a mystic mountaintop or sail across the seven seas to find this treasure. I believe it is already within you and accessible in the life you already lead. The heartbeat of grace is the underlying Truth behind appearances. Enlightenment is not limited to ascetics, saints, and yogis. It is within. It is a deeper knowing that a homemaker, an office worker, a farmer, an artist, a mechanic, or a sales clerk can discover, if they are willing to ask, seek, and knock. The door will be opened. 

Know however that asking is only the beginning of your own hero’s journey. That path may lead within, but it will nevertheless challenge your assumptions about yourself and how life works and what is supposed to be. Though you never pack a suitcase or board a plane, you will travel farther, fly higher, descend lower, and move deeper into the heart of reality. If you are willing to live with the questions, enter the silence, listen with all your senses, and surrender to grace, you will discover that there are no ordinary people, no ordinary places, and grace is at the center, a hidden presence that is available to all. 

Every profound innovation is based on an inward-bound journey, on going to a deeper place where knowing comes to the surface.

—W. Brian Arthur

“Every profound innovation is based on an inward-bound journey, on going to a deeper place where knowing comes to the surface. ”

— W. Brian Arthur

Scientific theory and the implications of quantum physics tell us that all is interconnected, yet each part is a hologram reflecting the whole. Poet William Blake said, “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is—infinite.” Spiritual masters and ancient mystics tell us there is an infinite wholeness of which we are just a part, and that what we choose, what we think, and what we are resonates and reverberates and returns to us, like the word that does not return void, but reaps what has been sown.

I’m here at home, sheltering in place during the corona virus pandemic. I am using this time to go deeper, to meditate, to read, to pray, to contemplate the mysteries I have been exploring tor many years. I believe that this time of outer emergency is an opportunity to allow something beautiful, luminous, and untapped to to emerge within all of us. I will be sharing my insights with you on this blog. And on Facebook posts and other social media. And I am working on a new book right now, as my contribution to the evolving consciousness. For those who are interested in exploring their own inner resources, I invite you to come join me.

There are many teachers and spiritual leaders sharing wisdom. I sense that I, too, have something unique to add to the conversation. Questions I have been contemplating, quotes I have been gathering, and my own spiritual progress over the last few years may offer insights that encourage and inspire you. It encourages and inspires me to focus my attention through writing, photos, and other means of communication. We are all in this together, and learning what we truly mean when we say we are all interconnected. Now, together, let us discover the inner spiritual resources we have not had time or opportunity to explore.

Pearls do not lie on the seashore,

If you desire one you must dive for it.

—Oriental proverb

“Pearls do not lie on the seashore,
If you desire one you must dive for it.”

— Oriental proverb

Plant a Seed Prayer

A tiny black seed holds the potential for leaves, flowers, and fruition, when it’s planted in rich soil, watered and cultivated. A simple prayer holds the same creative power, when you plant it in the soil of faith and tend it with love. When you have a mountain to move, start by planting a seed prayer. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Make your request known to God. Then thank God that the answer is coming, even though you may not yet know how. Make a marker in your garden of faith and then give it time to grow in God’s grace. 

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 17:20 NIV

• Create a prayer journal where you can keep track of prayer requests and prayers answered. 

Deep Listening

Blossomlight

God’s call is mysterious;
it comes in the darkness of faith. 
It is so fine, so subtle,
that it is only with the deepest silence within us
that we can hear it.
Carlo Caretto

Listening can be understood as seeking guidance from a higher level of consciousness and understanding. By entering into a stillness that is holy—that contains wholeness—silence brings us into our own wholeness. We remember—and re-member—pulling together that which has been lost in the fragmentation and distraction of daily living. 

In this silence, from this stillpoint, is the only place where true choice can be made. Because we become quiet, we learn to hear the I AM at the heart of creation, and in our own hearts, so that we can choose from the center of our being instead of the periphery of outward circumstance. Then each choice is made with clear intention. We are inspired from within instead of reacting from what is happening without. Though outer circumstances change, this deep listening keeps us centered in a larger spiritual reality. 

As we grow into our ability to experience inner and outer silence, our interior lives become richer. We discover that the silence and the void we feared is actually a living presence. The “still small voice” is now the insistent pulse of the Life Force making itself known in us. 

If you have ever been in a place of awesome beauty—the ocean, a mountain top, a cascading waterfall, the edge of the Grand Canyon—you have tasted this presence. Silence like a great cathedral allows you to enter the mystery and beauty of your own inner presence. 

• Exercise: Take an extended walk in wild places. Let nature nurture you and savor a silence full of living creatures, wind and weather, and all the sounds that speak to the soul in a way that human-made sounds cannot.

Quotes:
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Henry David Thoreau

A mystic is not a mysterious person, but is one who has a deep, inner sense of Life and of his unity with the Whole.
Ernest Holmes

The source of all abundance is not outside you. It is part of who you are. …The fullness of life is there at every step. The acknowledgement of that abundance that is all around you awakens the dormant abundance within. Then let it flow out.
Eckhart Tolle

The crust of the everyday must be broken through.
Eugene Delacroix

If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn, let yourself die.
Tao Te Ching

Let us remain as empty as possible so that God can fill us up.
Mother Teresa

Prayer can be understood as the gathering of attention. The inner effort, which is the work of gathering and recollection, leads to peace within. When this peace has gathered sufficient strength it can face the world in a new way.
Kabir Edmund Helminski

The greatest security we can have, in the face of antagonism and the inner and outer complexities of life, is to be consciously connected with the unchanging sense of self at the core of our being.
John Maxwell Taylor

The boasted strength of the personal self is really its weakness; true strength lies in that which dwells behind the personal self. We may draw on the infinite, if we will, and thus achieve the seemingly impossible.
Paul Brunton

…that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on—
Until the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul; 
While with an eye made quiet by the power 
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
William Wordsworth

One instant is eternity,
eternity is the now.
When you see through this one instant, 
you see through the one who sees.
Wu-Men

Your endeavor, then, is not so much to find God as it is to realize His presence and to understand that this presence is always with you.
Ernest Holmes

The secret of meditation is silence: no repetitions, no affirmations, no denials—just the acknowledgement of God’s allness, and then the deep, deep silence which announces God’s Presence.
Joel Goldsmith

The Wisdom of Silence

Spring Beauties

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
Lao Tzu

Silence enriches and changes us. Learning to be in silence on a regular basis brings a greater flow and ease to life. We access body wisdom as well as inner wisdom. We find rest, refreshment, and an expanded awareness that is more sensitive to life. We discover a new playfulness and childlike receptivity. We become more at home in the universe and in our own bodies. 

The time spent in silence spreads its influence beyond our practice of silence and stillness. The moments of silence radiate out into our days, gradually transforming our experiences of life. Drawing on the deep wisdom of the timeless and eternal, we discover that our daily round of errands, laundry, meetings, work, relationships, and social obligations begin to partake of the attributes of timelessness, peace, and even eternal bliss. The living listening presence that is at the core of who we really are as human beings becomes the center around which all the rest of life orbits.

• Exercise: Share silence intentionally with others. Setting aside silent time as a group is a powerful way to be together. Be silent with others consciously, setting aside an agreed upon time and place to be in quiet together. Enjoy a discussion afterward about how it felt and what you learned. Or leave in silence, connected to the energy of the group without needing words. 

Sweet Silence

Blossom Time

It has been said, “prayer is the fullness of attention.” When we’re completely paying attention, when we’re completely present in a moment, completely listening at all levels, we’re praying. 
—Cynthia Bourgeault

When we enter silence, we leave behind the conventional thinking of society and our habitual selves. “Peace, be still,” Jesus said to the stormy sea of Galilee, and the seas calmed to glassy stillness. So we also learn to calm the storm of our emotions and thoughts to enter a still place—no judgments, no opinions, no old scripts and self-defeating stories, no more limited thinking. No longer busy being busy and important, we allow the noise of the old life to subside as we enter the innocence of just “being.” We truly become human beings instead of humans doing. 

Entering physical silence enables us to learn to enter a spiritual silence where fear, prejudices, rigidity, resistance, projections, and stress are all released. Openness and allowing are the hallmarks of the one who has learned to enter into a silent way of being.

• Exercise: Listen to a quiet piece of music, allowing it to carry you into a place of stillness. Then spend a few minutes in silence when the music is finished. Write about your experiences in a journal.