Oh Icarus!
This flame that burns
so bright
blowing through
every chamber of your heart...
You must build
to these heights
Capacities like these
so rarely grown overnight.
Your yearning for Truth
pushes you to the edge
Your shadow,
yet unyielding
flares with the fuel of
these passionate leaps
costing you
costing you
costing you
oh so much
my dear.
Oh Icarus,
slow down,
the battle is already won
when you look with the
eye of wisdom
past the view
you've come to know,
You'll see,
You'll feel,
You'll KNOW;
Reality is much kinder
gentler and patient
than the world you've
let mold your every thought.
Oh Icarus!
Let the Truth reveal,
For she will carry you
like no pill
bottle
or sweet ever can.
She will soothe the ache
and give you a taste
of the home
the home you never left.
Flying so High
is the ego's game...
Burning you out
through need for
money and fame.
Oh Icarus!
Why wings of wax?
Spread the ones
Your Creator crafts
Within you,
and know
Your Holy Name.
There's only time
and no time at all.
Paradox can be
Your entry,
Or your
Most staggering fall.
Yes, Oh Icarus!
Open the wings of your Heart
Ride on the the
Currents Her breath
Know the Love you seek
release these ghosts of pain.
It's time to wake up!
It's time to wake up!
Oh Icarus,
It's time to wake up!
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/26/09
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Forgiveness
This piece on Forgiveness is from Sri Svami Purna, and speaks so clearly about the nature of real Forgiveness, consonant with the teachings from A Course In Miracles on the true nature of Forgiveness. I hope you gain from it deeper and deeper capacities for releasing any and all grievances, past, present, and future... Love, Scott
Forgiveness
Svamiji: You ask about forgiveness … what is there to forgive in anyone? The very concept, based on strong Christian teachings, is not really appropriate. If you want to forgive anyone for a perceived wrong, that puts you in a morally superior position; it makes you the judge … giving remission of a supposed debt.
It is not helpful to feel superior; rather you should feel confident of yourself and make an effort to deal with the given situation. Try to understand that there was a mistake and make the other person aware, thereby also giving the opportunity to correct the mistake. Of course both sides have to evaluate the alleged wrong. However, if the other person does not see the situation in the same way, try to accept things as they are. Rather, endeavor to change them within the framework of your available resources. The important point is that you do your best – and hope for a resolution.
There is nothing to forgive. People have different levels of growth and understanding, based on upbringing, religion and cultural values. Considering the widely differing personalities, conflicts are bound to happen. You cannot change anyone. Often it is your own expectation that is the cause of anger toward anyone. This serves no other purpose than to make you miserable and unhappy.
Before you attempt to judge another, examine your own actions and expectations. You have to co-exist and communicate with others, despite different levels of consciousness. Whenever involved in human entanglements, sit quietly, detach and try to sort out the conundrum. By understanding the human complexity you can rise above it.
At times there may be a strong reaction by one of the “combatants”. In that case it may be prudent to drop the issue, although in principle a solution is always possible. Attitude alone stands in the way. Communication is always better than reaction. Recognizing the other person’s limitations is a form of forgiveness.
Human communication seems to be one of the biggest challenges in the world throughout the ages. It does help if at least one person is aware. However, if the other person feels guilty it is your responsibility not to take advantage of the guilty consciousness. That is the moment of real communication – and real mutual forgiveness. There is no doubt that spiritual practices are the most effective method to deal with human interaction on all levels.
Only Now
Only Now
You reveal Your face
has only
ever
and Always
been
His face...
The Love with which
You love me,
His love...
A thousand 'thank you's'
will never be enough
To paint the picture of
my gratitude...
And so I go onward
Spreading these seeds.
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/24/09
You reveal Your face
has only
ever
and Always
been
His face...
The Love with which
You love me,
His love...
A thousand 'thank you's'
will never be enough
To paint the picture of
my gratitude...
And so I go onward
Spreading these seeds.
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/24/09
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Come, Spirit, Come!
Come, Spirit, Come…
Fill this pen with
Your endless ink.
Come, Spirit, Come!
Shatter the glass
In all the windows of division,
That Your sweet breath of freedom
Would blow through all
Dilapidated buildings of despair...
Come, Spirit, Come!
Reveal the Trust
Joy and
Truth
Contained in the
Seeds
The core of all
Your Holy Names.
Your smile on my face
Will open more hearts
Than a thousand
Lectures intoned
With perfected pace,
Rigorous study,
And a starry-eyed gaze.
Come, Spirit, Come!
Bring the Awakening
Part the veils
Grounding Your
Love into these
Traveled soles.
Coursing through every footstep
Ingraving Your invitation Home
Into sidewalk cracks
Splitting sidelong
In every metropolis
Germinating,
Sprouting,
Growing the
Seed of Creation,
In the compost of the mind,
Revealing only Grace, and
The Faceless Face,
No birth,
No death,
Just This...
Come, Spirit, Come...
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/25/09
Fill this pen with
Your endless ink.
Come, Spirit, Come!
Shatter the glass
In all the windows of division,
That Your sweet breath of freedom
Would blow through all
Dilapidated buildings of despair...
Come, Spirit, Come!
Reveal the Trust
Joy and
Truth
Contained in the
Seeds
The core of all
Your Holy Names.
Your smile on my face
Will open more hearts
Than a thousand
Lectures intoned
With perfected pace,
Rigorous study,
And a starry-eyed gaze.
Come, Spirit, Come!
Bring the Awakening
Part the veils
Grounding Your
Love into these
Traveled soles.
Coursing through every footstep
Ingraving Your invitation Home
Into sidewalk cracks
Splitting sidelong
In every metropolis
Germinating,
Sprouting,
Growing the
Seed of Creation,
In the compost of the mind,
Revealing only Grace, and
The Faceless Face,
No birth,
No death,
Just This...
Come, Spirit, Come...
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/25/09
Monday, June 22, 2009
Boundaries and Insecurity
I’m fresh from the the high desert (Joshua Tree) where 40 of us plunged deeper into the Work through the Level 4 Healer Training Class with my mentor and friend David Elliott. It was my 3rd time participating in this class, and what an enormous gift to my life! Every time I repeat one of the trainings, my Awareness around the work and mySelf takes a quantum leap deeper. Two of the main areas I’ve been honing in on and studying closely are Boundaries and Insecurity and just how crucial awareness around them is to Freedom and Self Love, and ultimately everything in life. Boundaries and Insecurity are deeply related....wherever you and I are insecure, our boundaries are likely to be shaky at best. Wherever we’re insecure, we leak our personal energy, our life-force. And in it’s infinite sense of humor, the Universe will keep bringing in people and situations to challenge these boundaries and insecurities to help shine the Light of Awareness on them so that we can have CHOICE. With Choice comes Freedom!
I will be focusing deeply into these two areas in all of the Work this week in San Francisco, and making sure to find the humor, share it, and have a lot of Fun along the way! I figure that the lessons are going to come in, and I might as well have fun along the way!
I will be focusing deeply into these two areas in all of the Work this week in San Francisco, and making sure to find the humor, share it, and have a lot of Fun along the way! I figure that the lessons are going to come in, and I might as well have fun along the way!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Key to Healing
Preview from David Elliott's (author of THE RELUCTANT HEALER, and mentor and friend) upcoming book (still in process):
"The key to healing, love, life, spirit, connection, faith, and enlightenment revolve around you being able to love yourself. If you do not like you, you cannot love you. This is ground zero, the starting point for your work. Nothing in your life is going to bear fruit until you learn to love yourself and make contact with the center of your Universe, your heart, and the love that flows through it. You have to learn to feel love for yourself through your heart. You have to be able to feel the smiles for yourself in your heart. Self-love connects you to everyone, and everything. Once you love yourself you can effectively move out into the world and love others. Love makes you Universal. It is the foundation in which to understand life. It connects you to the Master’s who walked the earth, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” will begin to make sense when you have learned to love yourself, it cannot happen if you do not love you. For love to exist in your world it has to happen inside of you first, then it can propagate 360 degrees around you. You become a circle, a Universe of love. Can I be anymore repetitive, emphatic, or clear about this!"
----this and more at http://blog.thereluctanthealer.com/
"The key to healing, love, life, spirit, connection, faith, and enlightenment revolve around you being able to love yourself. If you do not like you, you cannot love you. This is ground zero, the starting point for your work. Nothing in your life is going to bear fruit until you learn to love yourself and make contact with the center of your Universe, your heart, and the love that flows through it. You have to learn to feel love for yourself through your heart. You have to be able to feel the smiles for yourself in your heart. Self-love connects you to everyone, and everything. Once you love yourself you can effectively move out into the world and love others. Love makes you Universal. It is the foundation in which to understand life. It connects you to the Master’s who walked the earth, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” will begin to make sense when you have learned to love yourself, it cannot happen if you do not love you. For love to exist in your world it has to happen inside of you first, then it can propagate 360 degrees around you. You become a circle, a Universe of love. Can I be anymore repetitive, emphatic, or clear about this!"
----this and more at http://blog.thereluctanthealer.com/
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Litany of LOVE
It just keeps
pouring out.
Is there no end
to this
litany of LOVE?
This is
a wild
and merry
band
of Creation
spilling over the rim
of more teacups
than potters
can bake,
Creation
cooking us
each and every
One
into more of
what already
and
always
Is.
The floodgates are
Open.
The waters are
Rising.
The writers have
heard
His trumpet
Sound,
Letting these words
fall through the hands
into valleys of
the imagination...
Rip-roaring through
aeons,
waking the sleeping
into this...
This ecstatic dance
of the
Divine.
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/17/09
pouring out.
Is there no end
to this
litany of LOVE?
This is
a wild
and merry
band
of Creation
spilling over the rim
of more teacups
than potters
can bake,
Creation
cooking us
each and every
One
into more of
what already
and
always
Is.
The floodgates are
Open.
The waters are
Rising.
The writers have
heard
His trumpet
Sound,
Letting these words
fall through the hands
into valleys of
the imagination...
Rip-roaring through
aeons,
waking the sleeping
into this...
This ecstatic dance
of the
Divine.
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/17/09
This Joy...
With a Heart
Full of Grace
How can I
go wrong?
Where can I turn
and not feel Your
heat?
Drunk on your fragrance,
I stagger up and down the
stairs looking for that
one sacred flower
that will end
all delusion...
Oh that precious
and divine
savior,
budding only
on leap-year
or maybe it's
the last hour of
Solstice,
or could it be?
Could it be that
maybe it's just
those perfect hours
so early in the morning
when the world is still
free from the sometimes
happy buzz
of caffeinated contentment...
Oh yes!
Maybe it is those
sacred moments...
But where?
Where do I
find the formula
the special mantra
to unlock the gold
in these few coveted moments?
There must be
an incantation to
open the locks
on the wrought iron
doors to the Infinite...
Scurrying
Pining
Pushing
Pleading
Yearning...
Until the inevitable
forfeiture..
Giving in to the
seductive slumber of
anesthetized awareness.
"It's so simple,
with simplicity."
"The doorway to
My Heart
is nowhere
your eyes can look
your ears can hear
your tongue can savor
your mind can conceive."
"My Dear One,
as you giggle
and shake into
the most unholy
laughter,
sweating and
rolling on the floor
practically
and maybe actually
drooling on yourself
as the howling
hilariousness of
this game of
cat and mouse
comes crashing through your
Heart
and shows you My face
in the dust bunnies
under the couch."
"Will you let go now?
Or do I have to drag you
kicking and screaming
all the way to my
Joy, the only
home
you never left?"
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/17/09
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Little Things...
Do you have an appetite for more in your life?
Do you have an appetite for more direct experience and awareness of Who and What you Are?
Have you been diligently been doing various "spiritual" practices over many days, months, years, decades, lifetimes? And still knowing there's more to see (ie; realize)?
What if you and I are always and constantly being offered profound guidance and assistance for Awakening and everything in-between Awakening and this dream of being a separate individual human being? I can promise you we are. I too forget sometimes, and get mired in the dream in ways that can feel somewhat nightmarish, or at least unpleasant.
What if being able to recognize this guidance is simpler than we human beings make most things? What if it's really really simple?
It is.
An entry point to the awareness I'm pointing at is through the little things. Really. How many times have you (even this week, or today) walked past something that needed cleaning in the space you live or work without cleaning it? Even though it might only take a minute or two.
Let me be really super crystal clear here ----- this is NOT about blame, or guilt, or shame, or any of the other thieves of the Heart. It's not about cajoling or manipulating you towards some moralistic higher ground either (that just seems to breed annoying spiritual superiority).
What I'm being led into writing here (and working with more deeply for myself) is the practice of doing in the moment what that little voice is telling me to do. Not the voice that says, "You'd be so much happier with a pint of Ben & Jerry's right now, go and get it." Nothing wrong with ice cream as such, but it's pretty likely that the so-called happiness from eating a pint of it is going to be short-lived.
The voice I'm talking about generally won't shout, that's usually left for the ego to do. Shouting usually only comes from insecurity that's triggering you to attack to protect yourself from hurt (which doesn't really work, as by the time you're shouting, you're already hurting).
The voice I'm talking about points out regularly the little things that need doing. If you don't do the little things it points out, why should it expend any energy trying to reveal higher Truths to a resistant mind? If you're going into any sort of self-judgment here, drop it. That's not the droid you're looking for (bad Star Wars reference...).
Is it dirty dishes (even one) in the sink? Is it cleaning your house? Is it returning a phone call? Is it giving even when your mind tells you you can't possibly afford it (though you're being nudged from within to Trust and give anyway), is it caring for your own body, mind, or Spirit even though your ego is reaching for short-term comforts instead?
What is it for you?
Would you be willing to start listening, paying more attention, if you knew there would be a reward? The rewards are GREAT! Though they may not be instant. This is actually a practice to work with over time and develop consistency with. It's living life as though everything matters (and it does). My friend and mentor, David Elliott, is fond of saying, "How you do anything is how you do everything."
If you want more LOVE in your life...pay attention to the opportunities to be more LOVING.
If you want more abundance in your life, give of yourself and your resources abundantly. Even if you don't think you have material resources to give, you have time, thoughts, intentions, prayers, your SMILE to give abundantly.
It can be easier.
It can be more fun.
It doesn't have to wait for some-day.
Jesus said in the Gospel of Thomas that 'the Kingdom of Heaven is already spread upon the Earth, only men (and women) do not see it.'
Swami Muktananda, another great window on Reality from India, would say often, "The world is as you see it. If you don't like the world you see, change the prescription of your glasses."
If this speaks to you (and if you read all the way to here, it probably is calling to you) then look around and find little things that need doing, do them, and pause afterwards. Check in at that point and notice how you feel. Do you have a lift (even subtle) in your energy? You might even keep going...it'll become like a scavenger hunt -- with each completed area, you sense what needs your attention next...you get another "clue" from the Universe.
Let me know how it goes!
Do you have an appetite for more direct experience and awareness of Who and What you Are?
Have you been diligently been doing various "spiritual" practices over many days, months, years, decades, lifetimes? And still knowing there's more to see (ie; realize)?
What if you and I are always and constantly being offered profound guidance and assistance for Awakening and everything in-between Awakening and this dream of being a separate individual human being? I can promise you we are. I too forget sometimes, and get mired in the dream in ways that can feel somewhat nightmarish, or at least unpleasant.
What if being able to recognize this guidance is simpler than we human beings make most things? What if it's really really simple?
It is.
An entry point to the awareness I'm pointing at is through the little things. Really. How many times have you (even this week, or today) walked past something that needed cleaning in the space you live or work without cleaning it? Even though it might only take a minute or two.
Let me be really super crystal clear here ----- this is NOT about blame, or guilt, or shame, or any of the other thieves of the Heart. It's not about cajoling or manipulating you towards some moralistic higher ground either (that just seems to breed annoying spiritual superiority).
What I'm being led into writing here (and working with more deeply for myself) is the practice of doing in the moment what that little voice is telling me to do. Not the voice that says, "You'd be so much happier with a pint of Ben & Jerry's right now, go and get it." Nothing wrong with ice cream as such, but it's pretty likely that the so-called happiness from eating a pint of it is going to be short-lived.
The voice I'm talking about generally won't shout, that's usually left for the ego to do. Shouting usually only comes from insecurity that's triggering you to attack to protect yourself from hurt (which doesn't really work, as by the time you're shouting, you're already hurting).
The voice I'm talking about points out regularly the little things that need doing. If you don't do the little things it points out, why should it expend any energy trying to reveal higher Truths to a resistant mind? If you're going into any sort of self-judgment here, drop it. That's not the droid you're looking for (bad Star Wars reference...).
Is it dirty dishes (even one) in the sink? Is it cleaning your house? Is it returning a phone call? Is it giving even when your mind tells you you can't possibly afford it (though you're being nudged from within to Trust and give anyway), is it caring for your own body, mind, or Spirit even though your ego is reaching for short-term comforts instead?
What is it for you?
Would you be willing to start listening, paying more attention, if you knew there would be a reward? The rewards are GREAT! Though they may not be instant. This is actually a practice to work with over time and develop consistency with. It's living life as though everything matters (and it does). My friend and mentor, David Elliott, is fond of saying, "How you do anything is how you do everything."
If you want more LOVE in your life...pay attention to the opportunities to be more LOVING.
If you want more abundance in your life, give of yourself and your resources abundantly. Even if you don't think you have material resources to give, you have time, thoughts, intentions, prayers, your SMILE to give abundantly.
It can be easier.
It can be more fun.
It doesn't have to wait for some-day.
Jesus said in the Gospel of Thomas that 'the Kingdom of Heaven is already spread upon the Earth, only men (and women) do not see it.'
Swami Muktananda, another great window on Reality from India, would say often, "The world is as you see it. If you don't like the world you see, change the prescription of your glasses."
If this speaks to you (and if you read all the way to here, it probably is calling to you) then look around and find little things that need doing, do them, and pause afterwards. Check in at that point and notice how you feel. Do you have a lift (even subtle) in your energy? You might even keep going...it'll become like a scavenger hunt -- with each completed area, you sense what needs your attention next...you get another "clue" from the Universe.
Let me know how it goes!
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Guiltless World
"If you did not feel guilty you could not attack, for condemnation is the root of attack. It is the judgment of one mind by another as unworthy of love and deserving of punishment. But herein lies the split. For the mind that judges perceives itself as separate from the mind being judged, believing that by punishing another, it will escape punishment. All this is but the delusional attempt of the mind to deny itself, and escape the penalty of denial. It is not an attempt to relinquish denial, but to hold on to it. For it is guilt that has obscured the Father (Truth/Love/Reality) to you, and it is guilt that has driven you insane."
from A Course In Miracles, p.236
from A Course In Miracles, p.236
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
How Do You Know?
How do you know;
your words
are falling on deaf ears,
your art
is falling on blind eyes,
your garden
is withering on the vine?
Can you see the
arrogance of your
shape-shifting ego
manipulating
the tides of your
remaining insecurity?
Can you recognize
the pure
shining
unperturbable
GRACE
shining behind the
shucking, jiving,
and shenanigans of
mind...
this self-same GRACE
is illuminating
illusions
idiosyncrasies
and idolatry just
to bring you
HOME
once and for all?
This journey
Dear One
is not
to be taken
whilst drooling
drunk,
sleeping at the wheel of
your virtual life.
THIS journey
is not for the faint of heart.
It will take you
through the woods
on the darkest night
just to see if you flinch,
recoiling from Trust and Faith
falling down into the
wool of the world's despair
pulled so stealthily
(albeit by you)
over your human eyes.
It will reveal the Truth.
It will reveal the Love.
It will reveal the ONE
that you and I are
have been
and will always BE.
Will you take my hand
as long as we both
see separation
and walk with me?
Will you Trust
in the power of
two or more gathered
in His/Her name,
knowing the name
is just a convenient
finger pointing at the Moon?
Will you share this MIracle
with me?
I will walk and
I will not rest from
this journey
until there is no speck of
beingness that
believes in separation from
LOVE.
And if you hear the Call,
put on your dancing clothes
put on your funky hat
and your tilted shades,
and bring
all your raucous laughter
to the streets as
we shake and sweat and
dance out all division
until that cute portly woman of proverbial fame
comes out onto our stage
to sing.
Give your gifts
Dance your dance
Paint your Heart on
Every pillar and post and
let your sacred smile
leap across your face
for no need of good reason
other than that it can!
Scott Patrick Schwenk 6/9/09
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Taste The Nectar of your own Heart
People come to the Work (by whatever name it may be called or not called) mostly thinking they're going to "get" something. And really what's happening is that they're coming to the Work to "lose" something.
The most valuable thing (really a non-thing) of all can't be "gotten". It's just covered up by personality, conditioning, experiences, etc.
You come to the Work to Lose what's covering up what You Are.
You already are the Peace, Love, and Security you seek through people, things, and experiences.
What the Work does is to create a space in your experience for RECOGNITION of what You Are. Once what You Are is seen (even for a fraction of a moment), the whole path starts to change. What you see in that fraction of a moment has a gravitational pull, pulling everything towards Love. How long it takes for the process to complete itself and for the proverbial fat-lady in life's opera to sing? Well, it seems to be different for everyone.
What you Are isn't an experience, and it can be seen through experiences. But chasing after experiences may not satisfy you. Have you noticed yet? Have you noticed that experiences come and then they go? Have you noticed that? Have you noticed that everything you can perceive with your senses has a beginning, a middle, and most definitely an End?
Working with something as simple as an active breathing process sets the stage for this recognition to occur...it "un-clutches" your attention.
Imagine making a fist....and imagine that the fist is closing in around something like needing your partner to acknowledge you in some way.
First, in that example, there's the experience that something is missing (approval), then the impulse to go and get it somehow. Then the determination around it is the even tighter clutching of the fist. Only your whole experience of yourself becomes contracted and clutched (even if it's subtle, clutching is still clutching....giving it a sweeter name is like putting lipstick on a pig)....and so even if approval and acknowledgment came your way, it can't make it through the contracted state of being for you to even experience it in the present moment.
In order to "receive", you have to become open, unclutched.
And the irony of this is that when you're unclutched, you're in contact with the Real You...where nothing is missing at all. In that moment, the "seeker" that has led you on a wild goose chase (from teacher to healer to CD to class to book to whatever is next on the wildly marketed spiritual buffet line)....in that moment, the "seeker" is temporarily paralyzed. And in that moment, you experience peace.
Very quickly thereafter, the ego wakes back up and believing that the peace came through an "experience" begins plotting away to create similar "experiences".....getting you back on the wild goose chase of experience-hunting.
It really believes that if it can string enough of these experiences together like some sort of necklace, you might get to live in a permanent "experience".
It doesn't work that way.
Peace comes through Recognition of what you Are, and resting in it. What you really are. Not what your mind tells you, or your mother-in-law tells you, or your pre-school teacher from 30 years ago tells you. It comes from surrendering into and ultimately as what you and I already are.
If you've been to a workshop with me, you may have noticed that I work with paradox quite a bit. I'll say one thing to one person, and something nearly opposite to another. The words are not the thing. They're being used to take consciousness to a deeper place. The workshops aren't a place to just gather information. You could spend (and may already have spent) countless lifetimes amassing information. So what. As a recovering information-junkie, I can tell you that information doesn't do squat for awakening, for recognizing Love. It just piles up and gathers dust.
Information is fine for fixing cars, doing open-heart surgery, cooking, passing exams....and there's nothing at all wrong with information. If your goal is Love, if your goal is Peace, if your goal is Security, if your goal is recognition and embodiment of Truth....information probably won't get you very far.
Letting go of concepts, beliefs, illusions about yourself, people, and life makes space for this Recognition, this remembering of who and what you are.
It really is a lot like surfing or body-surfing in my experience. All the "work" is to align with the wave, and surrender to it, let it carry you all the way in to Shore. It's building awareness of and utilizing this subtle musculature for True Balance.
Half an hour ago, I was cleaning and refilling my hummingbird feeder. As I was putting it back up outside, the hummingbirds came and sat on the feeder and starting drinking the nectar. I nearly pee'd myself (not really, but it makes it sound more dramatic!). If you know me, you know I get really excited about hummingbirds (among many other things), so having them not even an inch from my fingers was a great "surfing" opportunity.
I know how sensitive hummingbirds are to energy. I knew that if I started wanting them to be or do anything other than what they wanted, they'd feel it immediately and fly away. I also knew that I wanted to fully experience being with them. So it was this subtle balancing of being radically open to them without grasping for an experience (becoming clutched) and then being left unsatisfied.
What really excites me about hummingbirds is that they mirror something so deep and alive within me. The hummingbirds aren't the answer, they're another mirror.
With this extremely potent Full-Moon approaching, it's a great time to practice your surfing. And if you're in LA, I'd heavily encourage you to come to The Hub tomorrow afternoon from 2-6pm for the BreathWorks Immersion, The Alchemy of Transformation. We'll be working deeply with all of this and more.
Come to let go. Come to release, and become unclutched. In this release, you will recognize your Original Face, the face you had before your parents were born. In this release, you will taste the flavor of your own Heart, and in that tasting, you will experience the nectar of All Hearts.
Love,
Scott
The most valuable thing (really a non-thing) of all can't be "gotten". It's just covered up by personality, conditioning, experiences, etc.
You come to the Work to Lose what's covering up what You Are.
You already are the Peace, Love, and Security you seek through people, things, and experiences.
What the Work does is to create a space in your experience for RECOGNITION of what You Are. Once what You Are is seen (even for a fraction of a moment), the whole path starts to change. What you see in that fraction of a moment has a gravitational pull, pulling everything towards Love. How long it takes for the process to complete itself and for the proverbial fat-lady in life's opera to sing? Well, it seems to be different for everyone.
What you Are isn't an experience, and it can be seen through experiences. But chasing after experiences may not satisfy you. Have you noticed yet? Have you noticed that experiences come and then they go? Have you noticed that? Have you noticed that everything you can perceive with your senses has a beginning, a middle, and most definitely an End?
Working with something as simple as an active breathing process sets the stage for this recognition to occur...it "un-clutches" your attention.
Imagine making a fist....and imagine that the fist is closing in around something like needing your partner to acknowledge you in some way.
First, in that example, there's the experience that something is missing (approval), then the impulse to go and get it somehow. Then the determination around it is the even tighter clutching of the fist. Only your whole experience of yourself becomes contracted and clutched (even if it's subtle, clutching is still clutching....giving it a sweeter name is like putting lipstick on a pig)....and so even if approval and acknowledgment came your way, it can't make it through the contracted state of being for you to even experience it in the present moment.
In order to "receive", you have to become open, unclutched.
And the irony of this is that when you're unclutched, you're in contact with the Real You...where nothing is missing at all. In that moment, the "seeker" that has led you on a wild goose chase (from teacher to healer to CD to class to book to whatever is next on the wildly marketed spiritual buffet line)....in that moment, the "seeker" is temporarily paralyzed. And in that moment, you experience peace.
Very quickly thereafter, the ego wakes back up and believing that the peace came through an "experience" begins plotting away to create similar "experiences".....getting you back on the wild goose chase of experience-hunting.
It really believes that if it can string enough of these experiences together like some sort of necklace, you might get to live in a permanent "experience".
It doesn't work that way.
Peace comes through Recognition of what you Are, and resting in it. What you really are. Not what your mind tells you, or your mother-in-law tells you, or your pre-school teacher from 30 years ago tells you. It comes from surrendering into and ultimately as what you and I already are.
If you've been to a workshop with me, you may have noticed that I work with paradox quite a bit. I'll say one thing to one person, and something nearly opposite to another. The words are not the thing. They're being used to take consciousness to a deeper place. The workshops aren't a place to just gather information. You could spend (and may already have spent) countless lifetimes amassing information. So what. As a recovering information-junkie, I can tell you that information doesn't do squat for awakening, for recognizing Love. It just piles up and gathers dust.
Information is fine for fixing cars, doing open-heart surgery, cooking, passing exams....and there's nothing at all wrong with information. If your goal is Love, if your goal is Peace, if your goal is Security, if your goal is recognition and embodiment of Truth....information probably won't get you very far.
Letting go of concepts, beliefs, illusions about yourself, people, and life makes space for this Recognition, this remembering of who and what you are.
It really is a lot like surfing or body-surfing in my experience. All the "work" is to align with the wave, and surrender to it, let it carry you all the way in to Shore. It's building awareness of and utilizing this subtle musculature for True Balance.
Half an hour ago, I was cleaning and refilling my hummingbird feeder. As I was putting it back up outside, the hummingbirds came and sat on the feeder and starting drinking the nectar. I nearly pee'd myself (not really, but it makes it sound more dramatic!). If you know me, you know I get really excited about hummingbirds (among many other things), so having them not even an inch from my fingers was a great "surfing" opportunity.
I know how sensitive hummingbirds are to energy. I knew that if I started wanting them to be or do anything other than what they wanted, they'd feel it immediately and fly away. I also knew that I wanted to fully experience being with them. So it was this subtle balancing of being radically open to them without grasping for an experience (becoming clutched) and then being left unsatisfied.
What really excites me about hummingbirds is that they mirror something so deep and alive within me. The hummingbirds aren't the answer, they're another mirror.
With this extremely potent Full-Moon approaching, it's a great time to practice your surfing. And if you're in LA, I'd heavily encourage you to come to The Hub tomorrow afternoon from 2-6pm for the BreathWorks Immersion, The Alchemy of Transformation. We'll be working deeply with all of this and more.
Come to let go. Come to release, and become unclutched. In this release, you will recognize your Original Face, the face you had before your parents were born. In this release, you will taste the flavor of your own Heart, and in that tasting, you will experience the nectar of All Hearts.
Love,
Scott
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Walking In The Light Without Tripping Over Shadows
Until it's some other way for you and I, until all the illusions are burned out, we must know and make peace with our walk....and recall that with the intention to walk in the Light, and the activity of putting actual consecutive footsteps to that walk, that we will face shadows. Shadows being those elements that appear real and are based on some conscious or unconscious illusions we still hold.
It's so easy to forget that shadows cannot appear without a light-source. It is the light-source that reveals a shadow. With no light, there would be no differentiation or contrast to see any differences.
So it is crucial, and of vast value to remember that even when the heaviest and seemingly most fearsome beliefs (illusions/shadows) start to surface, that there is an unperturbable Light-Source behind all shadows.
A Light-Source that when given even a little attention can change the whole human experience. It doesn't matter what tradition you find yourself waking up inside of (or outside of, as the case may be).
What matters is the recognition of Truth and the willingness to have it be North on the compass, THE organizing principle. To have regular and consistent ways and means for checking in with and placing attention on this organizing principle every day and throughout each day.
We're moving deeply into the experience of the Full Moon this week (it exacts on Sunday at 11:12am PST). The Full Moon reflects a tremendous amount of light. When this light hits any object, it casts a shadow. This is especially true on the level of internal experience. This Light hits the consciousness and wherever there still lives any form of conscious or unconscious identification with illusion, that identification acts like a gnarled big old tree in the middle of the night out in a field. When the light of the Full Moon hits that tree, a gnarled-looking shadow is cast alongside the tree.
If you look at the shadow and believe it to be a real reality (having it's own independent existence), you will have certain experiences. And your thoughts, words, and actions will arise from this illusion. Everything created from this way of seeing will be based on illusion. Anything created on a foundation of illusion will be shaky at best, and highly destructive at worst.
Are you willing to be your own "vision coach", training your eyes to see the Truth, training your will to focus on the Truth, and training your habits to become pillars of strength to support your ever-deepening recognition of Truth.
I am by no means advocating an extremist way of working with oneself. The time for walling oneself up indefinitely in a cave, monastery, ashram, or other cloistered institution seems to have passed for most of us.
As one contemporary teacher of awakening says, "Anyone can be enlightened in heaven, can you be enlightened in hell?" I hear that as a strong support to waking up and calling on the strength to stop going back to sleep even in the most uncomfortable of circumstances.
What are some indications of putting oneself back to sleep, consciously or unconsciously? Check in with your body....what's happening with your body? Is it holding anywhere, contracting in some noticeable way? Are you sitting on any emotions, swallowing them into your gut? Are you in judgment of yourself, another, or life?
Judgment is one of the clearest ways for me to recognize that I'm believing in some illusion. And when I believe in illusion, I will suffer. And only every time. Judgment is a reflection of some form of insecurity. And insecurity is one of the main ways you and I avoid the Truth. The Truth that we are already the Awakeness we seek. We are already the wholeness and Love that we search for in so many people, places, and experiences.
Insecurity is an illusion.
It feeds on lifeforce.
If you can be kept busy feeling insecure, you can be kept from sharing your Gifts with the world. You can be kept from recognizing Love. You can continue needing something on the outside to "stimulate" you in one way or another. Love needs nothing but itSelf. It is complete in itSelf. It is fulfilled in itSelf.
The opportunity opens up in the willingness to walk the walk even when it's uncomfortable. Especially when it's uncomfortable. To keep showing up for yourSelf. To be skeptical of ANY judgments that arise. To reach for the situations that consistently push you to grow outside of old views of yourself. To work with the practices that help you to See from many perspectives and points of view. Practices that help you get out of the loop of linear thinking, and feeling and recognizing the spaciousness and wholeness of Who and What you Are.
If your happiness feels tied to another person, your job, your house, your bank-account, sugar, sex, the weather, or anything else that can come and go, it's time to wake up. If you're still reading here, this is for you. It's definitely for me. I'm working with this as much as anyone. So as I was saying, if your happiness is feeling tied to anything outside of yourself, it's time to question that. Find out if it really is true that your happiness is tied to something outside of yourself. I can promise you from experience that it is not. I can promise you from experience that Spirit is real by whatever name you might call it, or not call it. There is a vast, unlimited Source. It has no judgment. Not of you, not of your choices, not of the people you know, not of politics, religion, sex, or anything at all. Judgment is born of separation and insecurity.
When I can embrace you as myself, I am free. When I cannot, I am bound. My work today is to see the Truth...to recognize the One Face in the many. To exchange with the Truth with every breath. To invite Source to reveal the Truth moment-by-moment that I may be the clearest expression of Unconditional Love for myself and all beings.
We are worth it. It is our birthright. Awakeness is. Love is. We are supported beyond belief!
It's so easy to forget that shadows cannot appear without a light-source. It is the light-source that reveals a shadow. With no light, there would be no differentiation or contrast to see any differences.
So it is crucial, and of vast value to remember that even when the heaviest and seemingly most fearsome beliefs (illusions/shadows) start to surface, that there is an unperturbable Light-Source behind all shadows.
A Light-Source that when given even a little attention can change the whole human experience. It doesn't matter what tradition you find yourself waking up inside of (or outside of, as the case may be).
What matters is the recognition of Truth and the willingness to have it be North on the compass, THE organizing principle. To have regular and consistent ways and means for checking in with and placing attention on this organizing principle every day and throughout each day.
We're moving deeply into the experience of the Full Moon this week (it exacts on Sunday at 11:12am PST). The Full Moon reflects a tremendous amount of light. When this light hits any object, it casts a shadow. This is especially true on the level of internal experience. This Light hits the consciousness and wherever there still lives any form of conscious or unconscious identification with illusion, that identification acts like a gnarled big old tree in the middle of the night out in a field. When the light of the Full Moon hits that tree, a gnarled-looking shadow is cast alongside the tree.
If you look at the shadow and believe it to be a real reality (having it's own independent existence), you will have certain experiences. And your thoughts, words, and actions will arise from this illusion. Everything created from this way of seeing will be based on illusion. Anything created on a foundation of illusion will be shaky at best, and highly destructive at worst.
Are you willing to be your own "vision coach", training your eyes to see the Truth, training your will to focus on the Truth, and training your habits to become pillars of strength to support your ever-deepening recognition of Truth.
I am by no means advocating an extremist way of working with oneself. The time for walling oneself up indefinitely in a cave, monastery, ashram, or other cloistered institution seems to have passed for most of us.
As one contemporary teacher of awakening says, "Anyone can be enlightened in heaven, can you be enlightened in hell?" I hear that as a strong support to waking up and calling on the strength to stop going back to sleep even in the most uncomfortable of circumstances.
What are some indications of putting oneself back to sleep, consciously or unconsciously? Check in with your body....what's happening with your body? Is it holding anywhere, contracting in some noticeable way? Are you sitting on any emotions, swallowing them into your gut? Are you in judgment of yourself, another, or life?
Judgment is one of the clearest ways for me to recognize that I'm believing in some illusion. And when I believe in illusion, I will suffer. And only every time. Judgment is a reflection of some form of insecurity. And insecurity is one of the main ways you and I avoid the Truth. The Truth that we are already the Awakeness we seek. We are already the wholeness and Love that we search for in so many people, places, and experiences.
Insecurity is an illusion.
It feeds on lifeforce.
If you can be kept busy feeling insecure, you can be kept from sharing your Gifts with the world. You can be kept from recognizing Love. You can continue needing something on the outside to "stimulate" you in one way or another. Love needs nothing but itSelf. It is complete in itSelf. It is fulfilled in itSelf.
The opportunity opens up in the willingness to walk the walk even when it's uncomfortable. Especially when it's uncomfortable. To keep showing up for yourSelf. To be skeptical of ANY judgments that arise. To reach for the situations that consistently push you to grow outside of old views of yourself. To work with the practices that help you to See from many perspectives and points of view. Practices that help you get out of the loop of linear thinking, and feeling and recognizing the spaciousness and wholeness of Who and What you Are.
If your happiness feels tied to another person, your job, your house, your bank-account, sugar, sex, the weather, or anything else that can come and go, it's time to wake up. If you're still reading here, this is for you. It's definitely for me. I'm working with this as much as anyone. So as I was saying, if your happiness is feeling tied to anything outside of yourself, it's time to question that. Find out if it really is true that your happiness is tied to something outside of yourself. I can promise you from experience that it is not. I can promise you from experience that Spirit is real by whatever name you might call it, or not call it. There is a vast, unlimited Source. It has no judgment. Not of you, not of your choices, not of the people you know, not of politics, religion, sex, or anything at all. Judgment is born of separation and insecurity.
When I can embrace you as myself, I am free. When I cannot, I am bound. My work today is to see the Truth...to recognize the One Face in the many. To exchange with the Truth with every breath. To invite Source to reveal the Truth moment-by-moment that I may be the clearest expression of Unconditional Love for myself and all beings.
We are worth it. It is our birthright. Awakeness is. Love is. We are supported beyond belief!
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