Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Dear Human:

















A reply to Courtney A. Walsh..see below..            (Thanks, CP..!!)

Another perspective..  :)

Dear Human:
You've got it all wrong.
Unconditional love is recognized not mastered.
It is what you are not where you came from or return.
Love is not personal but impersonal.
Love is eternal. Recognize this first
then notice the colorations.
Messy love.
Sweaty love. 
Whole love.
Infused with divinity
Stumbling within grace
Messing up as beauty.
Always.
You are already infinite YOU.
Colored as
gorgeous and flawed and fabulous.
Forgetting then remembering.
Unconditional love is the story which is not a story.
No adjectives needed.
Or modifiers.
Or the condition of perfection.
Show up as your real identity.
and you will do your best.
Stay present and feel fully.
Shine and fly and laugh and cry and hurt
and heal with your new recognition.
Recognize this and you will be YOU.
It's all there is.
Enough 
and Plenty...


Dear Human:
You've got it all wrong.
You didn't come here to master unconditional love. 
This is where you came from and where you'll return.
You came here to learn personal love.
Universal love.
Messy love.
Sweaty Love.
Crazy love.
Broken love.
Whole love.
Infused with divinity.
Lived through the grace of stumbling.
Demonstrated through the beauty of... messing up.
Often.
You didn't come here to be perfect, you already are.
You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous.
And rising again into remembering.
But unconditional love? Stop telling that story.
Love in truth doesn't need any adjectives.
It doesn't require modifiers.
It doesn't require the condition of perfection.
It only asks you to show up.
And do your best.
That you stay present and feel fully.
That you shine and fly and laugh and cry and hurt and heal 
and fall and get back up and play and work and live and die as YOU.
Its enough.
It's Plenty                

Courtney A. Walsh, inspirational poet, blogger, author

Translucent



trans·lu·cent
transˈlo͞osnt,tranzˈlo͞osnt/
adjective
  1. (of a substance) allowing light, but not detailed images, to pass through; semitransparent.
    "fry until the onions become translucent"
    synonyms:semitransparentsemiopaquepellucidlimpidclear

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Knowing for the first time..(after TS Eliot)




Knowing for the first time
means becoming aware
that there really is
no first or next time..
It means realizing
time has asserted itself
as a fencing
with barbed-wire barbs
claiming their sequence
marking the surrender
of our freedom..
As time-barbs dissolve
in our space of being
 we know with joy
for the first and all time...

Oceanwaveinplay..



Everything is transparent
Liquid
Luminous
Dense matter dissolves
with an experience of
Mindmatterinplay..
Oceanwaveinplay...

But does some objectivity
remain?
If the mind is involved
transparency remains
it seems
as a subtle object...


Monday, August 28, 2017

Blest be the tie that binds..







Blest be the tie that binds..
written by John Fawcett
so long ago (1782)

We search his words
for our insight
gained from his..

The experience of unity
of consciousness first:
joined in heart
as perfect Love 
and Friendship..
A soothing
A melting
with this Understanding
and a Freedom
named all Eternity...



Saturday, August 26, 2017

Stretching



Stretching

We stretch
inward and outward
and when we do
the mind extends
seeking and finding
those many objects in
 an everyday realm..
We focus..we say.. on
what really is real
and the ages attest..
The effort of stretching
locates many things
 there and then there..
Rest is simply
relaxing the stretch
but it seems
the stretching persists
through the daily
stress and storm..
We are just waiting...

To thine own self be true..


To thine own self be true..

This advice
prompts an inquiry of
the self to which
one should be true..
It is assumed
the self sought
will be known 
when met..
Meanwhile..the eclipse
need be recognized:
that self which seems
to be asserting itself
gaining our attention
obscuring our view..
Only when one
make this inquiry
can one be true...!

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Shakespeare and Non-duality...















R Spira:  All Things Seem But Cannot Be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW7O_K24tiQ

What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About Spiritual Enlightenment (blog)
http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nondualitymagazine.5/nonduality_magazine.5.robertpuff.htm

Shakespeare: An Enlightened Being (from the blog link above)

During my undergraduate years, I had the privilege of taking a Shakespearean class and was also able to travel through Europe.  I vividly remember going to Stratford-upon-Avon and watching a Shakespeare play, As You Like It.  The words, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts; his acts being seven ages,” struck a profound chord deep within me.  Shakespeare’s words are not merely those of a playwright but instead, those of an enlightened being. He describes who we are with great insight and accuracy. 


             




















Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Joseph and brothers



Joseph and brothers

Brothers are different
in Genesis or our story..
Each an expression
of Consciousness
which need be
directly recognized..
Like those disciples 
all their differences
appearing and
making so much
difference..
We all color
Consciousness in a
sundry of ways..
Yet for some
apparently
a clarity is seen
to others hidden
but always
available to all..

all of That..


all of That

To begin with
the gifted approach
is to recognize
Awareness first..
This truth need be
known and felt..this
Awareness..our Self..
all of That..!
After this beginning
we need know
that time and space
are appearances
appearing within
all of That..
These appearances
whether universe
or tooth-ache
are imposters
if posing as
all of That... 

I remember Lucky


I remember Lucky

Lucy was a boyhood dog
just a mixed mongrel 
black and white
as I remember..

In horror
I saw it happen
a body twisting
and bleeding under
motored wheels..

A cold February disposal
by a traveled roadside..
Of course..Lucky lives
in my placeless place
here and now...

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Transparency Vibrating



Transparency Vibrating

Polarity 
seems as separation
the This and That
of our world..
That is..until we experience
the Poles vibrating
and a Question:
What is it that is
vibrating..?
The What must be 
bound as One..
With frequency increasing
transparency arrives..
And with decreasing
the Poles once more
come into view..
Now we know:
Transparency itself is
vibrating and
manifesting...!

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Eclipse..!



On Monday
the Event..
The sun teaches
a lesson on veiling..
Absence asserts
but on the edges
(wear appropriate glasses..!)
the sunlight is recognized..
On the edges
the light of consciousness
asserts and promises..
The moon veil
poses as our dark patches
in life in this moment
but the patches dissolve
in bright sunlight
which was missing
only from our
eclipsed perspective..





Friday, August 18, 2017

War and Peace



Consciousness first and only
this experiential truth
calms the struggle..
A struggle created by
forgetting the reality and 
nature of consciousness:
a seamless whole
eternal and infinite and
our identity..
From forgetting emerges
the many oppositions
feeding war and peace..
Peace seems diminished
until understanding says:
war merely colors
the seamless transparent
wholeness..Peace...


Science struggles


Science struggles

to enwrap consciousness
in a thought-filled cage..
Pressing consciousness
through the bars and
with temporary relief
from a seeming demand
to reckon with an observer
an inner presence entangled
with sights and sounds..
We are all struggling
to find Peace..Happiness..
Struggles are the 
messages from These:
a simple request to re-direct
our gaze and ears
to that which precedes..
The consciousness of 
our deep intuition...


Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The Direct Approach




The Self is not to be found as a prize
at the end of a long journey.
It is not produced or created.
It is, in fact, a discovery, a recognition.

There can seem to be obstacles
that block you from this revelation, but these are only
what you give attention and importance to.
It is only a shadow, for these obstacles do not really exist
other than through belief.
You have all the power to discard them and keep your peace.
So to begin, start where you want to finish.
Start at the finishing line, at what is naturally present,
what is already here, at the place where you do not need
to maintain or sustain anything.
There you will discover that which you are searching for
is your own inseparable Self.
~ Mooji 
Thanks to Mooji FB Page

Rupert Spira:  The Direct Path
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW9kvq1qeAw

Rupert Spira: Awareness Without Objects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRLrgoPkSU4

Rupert Spira:  The Short Cut Question "Am I Aware?"

Rupert Spira: There is no World Outside Consciousness

Rupert Spira & Lisa Natoli: The Direct Approach to the Light of Pure Knowing
Gangaji:  The Religion of ME

Beauty and your brain..

https://www.ted.com/talks/anjan_chatterjee_how_your_brain_decides_what_is_beautiful?rss

"Do you believe everything you hear?"



"Do you believe everything you hear?"

This is the smiling greeting and question 
of an elderly man
observing a noisy construction 
with traffic delay..
Focusing on the noise..the hearing
as a passing experience..and remembering
that nightfall will return the quiet with
only an occasional punctuation..
But how about the belief..?
It seems we are led to believe the
hearing if it is processed as a shaping
of our awareness at this moment..
Our awareness takes the hearing shape:
a pearl of  discovery in our age..!

Monday, August 14, 2017

Thamar


Thamar

She was asked for a
church Testimony..!
And was told it was OK
to talk about her 
schooldays as a teacher..
The Testimony was
about an epiphany and
a little boy and
this is how it unfolded..
These kindergarteners 
a few of them anyway
act as squirrels..!
Squirrels..!!
They exhibit chaotic
unpredictable motions
requiring a teacher's
instantaneous response..
One year 
one of these squirrels 
named Thamar
out-squirreled all of
the other squirrels..
This child of Jamaica
soon became acquainted
with the teacher's
marks on a blackboard
which meant:
Squirrel curtailment..
Time for recess
was diminished with
each succeeding mark
on that blackboard..
Three marks and
a recess evaporated
in front of Thamar's
penetrating eyes..
Recess..how important
is it to a restless boy..?
He had a dream
and in that dream
God spoke to him
about His dislike
of white women
placing marks on
a blackboard which
most adversely
affected his Freedom..
The following day
he was energized
to relay this
divine message to
that teacher bearing
her chalk..!
And the message
pierced  her heart
writing a happy 
epiphany 
ending this story:
The chalk was retired
and Thamar's Freedom
embraced...

Extinction





https://science.slashdot.org/story/17/08/13/2130215/astrophysicist-believes-technologically-advanced-species-extinguish-themselves

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Torchlights





Torchlights

on parade
many outward lights
with darkness concealed
until a bursting..
The allowing parade
and the anti-parade:
expressing our Freedom..
We celebrate Freedom
but also discernment..
We perceive darkness
and seemingly
discernment muffled
among those whom
democracy so recently
appointed...

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Biocentrism



Biocentrism

The observer
in
biocentrism
is
a propitious step
away
from the object enticement
we
have believed so long..
And
The observer
is
posed as creator
yet
we ask:  who is observing..?
Where 
is Consciousness in biocentrism..?
Seemingly
Consciousness remains lodged
in
the head and
we
have not yet reached
a
realization of the
illusory
nature of an independent 
world...

However..
the subjective path
seems as gaining
illumination...


Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Testimony





Testimony

What might testimony reveal
of what is important in spiritual paths
in this age of agony and separation..
Any start seems to be:
What is really of great value
precious in our experience..?
Freedom and Happiness
seem to be names of that
precious pearl..
The question for us is:
how to find this pearl..
We know the descriptions of
many searches and promises
for eventual fulfillment..
Material and spiritual goals
are posed with expectation..
My STRETCH gatherings
are there to shorten
these processes and to
allow recognition that
although 
searches are important..
the pearl needs no search..
The Pearl is our 
immediate Identity... 


Lament for Billy Squirrel


Lament for Billy Squirrel

Let's name him Billy..
Whether
unavoidable or carelessness
he lies on the pavement
an unsightly mess of
fur and blood..
What is lost..?
Consciousness rises as
each and every animal
appearing as each
in experiential uniqueness..
Through special minds
of each animal 
which we do not know
there is temporary coloration
within and made of
Consciousness..
A vibration now lost..
There is more here
than the disregard
ascribed by our
culture of separation...

STRETCH...August 10, 2018






STRETCH

August 18, 2017
Myron Stratton Home
10:00 to 11:30 AM
Facilitator:  Charlie Coon
(charlesrcoon@gmail.com)

Content:  "The Hard Problem of Consciousness"

Through videos and conversation we will consider how science
is addressing the nature of Consciousness.  Biocentrism and
Panpsychism are two examples.  

(FYI:  Next month STRETCH will return to the third
Monday, each month, 3:30 to 5:00 PM, at the 
Myron Stratton Home.).


Videos:

Top 10 Spiritual Teachers on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtmAY6E1ie4&t=20s

Robert Lanza:  Consciousness is the Key to Understanding Reality
https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/robert-lanza-article/

TED Talk, David Chalmers:  Panpsychism and Explaining Consciousness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiYfN7-gaLk

Rupert Spira:  The Universe is Not Conscious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78gteVJwdDI&t=44s

Rupert Spira:  Consciousness is Not Produced By The Brain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icBYIUTZ5gI

A Commitment to Truth, Love and Beauty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPXzDCzp_tI&t=701s

Quotes:

“Now I have to say I'm a complete atheist, I have no religious views myself and no spiritual views, except very watered down humanistic spiritual views, and consciousness is just a fact of life, it's a natural fact of life.” 
-- David Chalmers

“Consciousness poses the most baffling problems in the science of the mind. There is nothing that we know more intimately than conscious experience, but there is nothing that is harder to explain.” 
-- David Chalmers

“How does the water of the brain turn into the wine of consciousness?” 
-- David Chalmers

“Why should physical processing give rise to a rich inner life at all? It seems objectively unreasonable that it should, and yet it does.” 
-- David Chalmers

“Things are still in early stages, but one can imagine that as we build up and systematize our theories of these associations, and try to boil them down to their core, the result might point us toward the sort of fundamental principles I advocate.” 
-- David Chalmers








“Many of our ideas and beliefs about ourselves and the world are so deeply ingrained that we are unaware that they are beliefs and take them, without question, for the absolute truth.” 
-- Rupert Spira

“When feeling is divested of the feeler and the felt, it shines as love; when seeing is divested of the seer and the seen, it shines as beauty.” 
-- Rupert Spira

“The mind, the body and the world are made out of Consciousness but Consciousness is not made out of them. It is made out of itself. Therefore everything is made only out of Consciousness.” 
-- Rupert Spira


Articles:

Deepak Chopra:  on Panpsychism
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/chopra/article/If-Reality-isn-t-Na-ve-We-Shouldn-t-Be-11816979.php


Reduction


Reduction

This is the process
which seems vital
to our time and culture..
We need the experience
that perceptions are
what we know of
the world just now..
The world becomes
subjective..and we find
it has always been so..
So we reduce
the seeming world
to perceiving as object..
Then..that object to
that in which
and as which it is:
Consciousness...

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Quiet Desperation


Quiet Desperation

Most people
live lives that might
be described this way..
There are temporary joys
we might say
removing attention from
quiet desperation..
Temporary..?
Why..?
Is it the pressing belief
assumption not questioned
of  lives lived 
in and as separation..?
An illusive separation
fills our days
clouding our recognition
of Who we are...

"I"



This common name
whatever the language
the meaning of which
leads to vitality
through real Understanding..
Peace and Happiness
can only come
through this Portal
I
the Portal between
Self and self..
Self as Awareness
self as separation...