Tag Archive for: enlightenment

Life Between Lives Transcription

Save the Last Dance for “All That Is”

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Every couple of months I receive a newsletter from the mystic spiritual teacher, trance channel and karmic astrologer, Joan Pancoe. I’ve always enjoyed her sense of humor intertwined with spiritual teachings, which always reminded me of Ram Dass. It’s no wonder that she is a big fan of Ram Dass. Her spiritual teachings are pretty consistent with what I’ve read from many other spiritual teachers, as well as my own experience from guiding over 4,000 past life regressions. Her latest newsletter succinctly shares our soul’s perspective behind the many incarnations we take, and explains the diversity of human lives we may experience here on planet earth. I wanted to share her latest teachings with all of you because it is worth reading. Please enjoy these words by Joan Pancoe by clicking on this link to read her latest teaching.

 

What it means to awaken

Belief in God is an Obstacle to Knowing God

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Eckhart Tolle, the spiritually awakened teacher and sage, and author of The Power of Now, said“A huge number of people are going through the process of awakening, some in the early stages, some in the later stages, and it’s wonderful to see.”  Indeed, evidence of this is seen through the website Batgap.com, which stands for Buddha at the Gas Pump: Conversations with “Ordinary” Spiritually Awakening People. It is a website dedicated to the interviews of hundreds of these people. One of my many favorite awakened teachers, who is number 268 on Batgap’s interview list, is Leonard Jacobson. I recently read an article of his in one of his newsletters, and I wanted to share it here. Please enjoy these words by Leonard Jacobson:

“God is real. God is here now, but we are not. We are lost in the past and future world of the mind. We are lost in a world of illusion and separation. We are lost in ideas, opinions, concepts and beliefs including spiritual and religious concepts and beliefs.  If we want to experience the living presence of God, we will have to come to where God is, which is the present moment. Then we will begin to experience God as the silent Presence at the very heart of all things present. That’s what omnipresence really means! For believers it’s a comforting concept. For mystics who are awake in the truth of life, it’s a living reality.

Belief in God is an obstacle to knowing God. Belief is a function of the mind and God is unknowable with the mind. To believe in God is to create God in man’s image and it doesn’t work. The truth is that we are created in the image of God, which means that we have all the attributes and qualities of the divine. In Presence, we are love, acceptance and compassion. We are without judgment. We exist in the realization of Oneness and all these qualities flow into our daily lives if we are fundamentally grounded in the present moment. But if we venture too far into the past or future, we disconnect from the present moment and in so doing we disconnect from our divine nature. We separate from God and the present moment. We then seek to avoid the pain of separation by believing in God, which actually takes us further into illusion and separation. We can only know God through direct experience, which arises when we are very deeply present.

Did Jesus believe in God or did he know God?  Was he so deeply present that he could feel and sense the Presence of God in everything? Was he so present that he experienced Oneness with everything, and so he felt one with God? Christ is a state of consciousness, not a person. Jesus the man awakened to Christ consciousness. He opened so fully into the present moment that he could see, feel and sense the Presence of God in everything. Christ consciousness is available to everyone who is willing to surrender belief in God and become fully present.

If you want to go beyond belief in God to the direct experience of God, then you will have to learn how to be deeply present. As you deepen into Presence, the illusion of separation dissolves. You will feel fulfilled by the moment as it is and your constant striving for more dissolves. You relax. You accept the moment as it is. You can sense that there is a Presence in everything and somehow you know that the Presence in everything is the Presence of God. You feel overwhelmed by love and gratitude. Your soul rejoices. It is what your soul has been longing for from the very beginning of time. You are aware of the extraordinary abundance and beauty of the present moment. You feel one with God. It feels like you have come home.

There is one step beyond Christ consciousness. It is God consciousness. In Christ consciousness, you are so present that you experience yourself as one with God. In God consciousness you have become so fully immersed in the present moment and Oneness that all sense of yourself as an individual dissolves. Only God remains.”

Life Between Lives Transcription

Case 9: The Transcription of an Entire Life-Between-Lives session

Reading Time: 37 minutes

This full transcript of a Life-Between-Lives session reveals a captivating glimpse into the matter-of-fact life that follows our earthly lives. Although our lives are certainly real, they are relatively real. From the vantage point of the soul, these lives can seem like fictitious role plays that all have reasons and purposes behind them.

This transcript also reveals a very uplifting message for us during a time which can often seem tumultuous here on earth. In a Life-Between-Lives session, a client is in a deep hypnotic trance. They tune into a higher dimension of their being, and therefore a much higher level of consciousness in which they can often access information to nearly anything that they focus on, unless it’s in their highest benefit to not receive that information. Thus, you will notice in this account how information tends to drop in as a ‘download’ into one’s awareness after questions are asked, all while the thinking, analytical mind is completely silent.

The transcript begins with a past life memory of being a boy, taken away from his parents during the Holocaust.

Client Experience

This is a direct summary of my past life and Life Between Lives (LBL) hypnosis session directed by Eric Christopher on September 26th, 2013.  I have written down my session as spoken on recording.  However, some areas require further explanation, as I was unable to articulate all of my thoughts during the session itself, and some things didn’t occur to me until post session.  I have added all that I can remember from my experience, plus what was directly recorded.  The added material will be in brackets.

The session taping begins with my first impressions upon entrance into my most recent past life:

Me: Hungry and naked.

Eric Christopher (EC): What is the color of your skin?

Me: I am white.  And… I’m 9 years old.  My brother is 5.

EC: Ok.

Me: And we’re with a bunch of other kids.  Outside and there is just dirt, with a fence.

EC: Does it feel like you know some of these kids?

Me: No.  We got to know them once we got here, but we didn’t know them before that.

EC: Is anyone wearing cloths?

Me: some of us have pants… some of us…but a lot more are just naked.  No extra clothes… nothing.

EC: Is this fence enclosing you?

Me: Yes.  We are not allowed out.  We are separated from our parents.

EC: Ok.

Me: I think they’re dead…

EC: Go back now to a time when you were with your parents.  Go back…

Me: We’re on a street.  We’re walking.  I don’t understand.  We were told we’d done something wrong.  Then they took us.  That’s when we were separated.  My brother and I from our parents, and then they wanted to later separate my brother and I as well, but I claimed I didn’t know him.  I made up a lie.  I don’t think they believed me, but I think the guard felt bad.  They let us stay together.

EC: Then what happens next?

Me: We’re taken in a vehicle with other kids and moved to another place.  It took a night and a day to get there.

EC: Now, take a moment and go back.  Did you feel as though your mom and dad did anything wrong?

Me: No.  My mom was screaming.  They had to carry my mother away, and my dad, he wanted to fight them.  But they had guns and he had nothing.

EC: Did the people that took you have uniforms?

Me: Yes. (long pause) I know they were Nazis. (Feeling very upset at this point. I can hear myself on the recording taking a few big breaths of air.  It was difficult to actually say the word “Nazi” and admit that this is what was happening.)

EC: Ok. They were Nazis.  All right.  Now, we’re going to come back to this scene, but before we do, I want to go backwards in time, to a time before all this started.  Go back to a time when you were home with your family.

Me: We’re sitting down to dinner.

EC: Allow yourself to notice your father.  Is he there?

Me: Yes.

EC: Notice the eyes and face.  What does his face convey?  What is his mood like?

Me: He is a very gentle man.  (He has) small glasses with dark curly hair, dark eyes, and tall.  He writes for a living.  He’s always at his desk.  My mother has light brown hair and brown eyes.  Both are very quiet parents.  My brother and I are quiet too.

EC: Do you feel closer to your mother or your father?

Me: My mother.

EC: Do you feel like it’s a close bond?  Do you love her?

Me: I want to be a good son.  I don’t want her to have a hard time raising me.  I want to be a good boy.

EC: Ok, and how does home feel?

Me:  Very happy.  We have a nice dining room, nice furniture.  There’s a chandelier.  I feel like it’s very happy.

EC: Do you go to school?

Me: Yes.

EC: What is it like for you at school?

Me: I like school… I’m quiet though.  I don’t talk to the other kids very much.  I just don’t like to draw attention.  I’m very into my studies.  I worry about my little brother.  I don’t want him picked on.  He’s small for his age.

EC: So you’re protective of your brother?

Me: Yes.

EC: All right.  In a moment I’m going to play a tone, and when I play the tone, then allow the scene to fade away and move ahead in time.  To the next scene…

Me: We’re in a park.  Having a picnic.  My dad really likes nature, and he points things out and teaches us things.  He’s very smart.  I admire him.  It’s a sunny day with lots of grass, and people are about.

EC: It’s just the four of you on this picnic?

Me: Yes.  I feel like we moved away… and came here for a job for my dad.  We live in a city.  I like living in the city.  There are lots of other boys to play with on my street.  We play in the street with a ball, and some dogs.  I like them too, but my mom doesn’t want a dog.  But I can play with their dogs, so it’s ok.

EC: Your mother calls you by your name.  What is your name?

Me: Joseph.  My brother is Abraham.  My mother is Mary and my dad is Elijah.

EC: So, now in a moment I will play a tone, and let yourself move ahead in time to the next scene in this life.

Me: I’m very nervous.  It’s getting scary.  Things are happening I don’t understand.  I’m scared at night to go to sleep.  There are people in the streets, but no children.  We’re not allowed out to play anymore.  My parents have told me I can’t go to school anymore.  They’re keeping me at home, but they seem like they’re looking at the newspaper a lot and out the windows a lot too.  There are a lot of people that stop by, and they have meetings.  I have to go upstairs to my bedroom.  Everything is changed… it’s so scary.

EC: Where is it you live?

Me: Austria

EC: Ok, now move ahead again in time, to when your parents are taken from you.

Me: I tell them it will be ok, I tell them not to worry.  I will watch my brother, and I do.  I never let him be out of my sight.  We stay together.

EC: Did this separation just happen in the street?

Me: Yes.  We were called outside.  There was a group of men in uniforms.  There were so many…  They told my dad, since he wrote for the newspaper; they were taking him into custody.  They told him the things he was writing about the war were illegal.  He was being a voice for the persecuted people, but apparently that was a crime.

EC: Was it only your family being taken?

Me: I feel like there were more, but I didn’t see it.  They never let people who might know each other be taken together.  But I can tell there are less people around, on our street.  I don’t know, I wasn’t outside much the last few months.

EC: Ok, then what happens?

Me: We’re put in a truck.  In the back, locked in with other children.  They’re all ages, and crying.  There’s a little girl so young she cannot talk and she’s crying.  I put her on my lap along with my brother and that makes us all feel better. (She stops crying from this and there’s less tension).  We drive.  It’s dark.  We drive through the night.  I don’t remember any food or water or stopping.  Sometime late that next day is when we stop.  We’re herded as a group into the fence.  There are buildings but nothing else.

EC: What are those buildings like?  Can you go inside them?

Me: Yes.  One.  There are beds in one where we sleep in piles.  But that’s okay.  We feel safer that way anyway.  That’s all that’s in there.  A few beds, no blankets or pillows or anything on the beds though… Oh… there’s a metal pail in the corner we’re to use as a bathroom.  We’re not embarrassed though because we’re all suffering together.  We’re all taking care of each other as best we can.

EC: Go to a time when you’re given food.  What is a mealtime like?

Me: They bring us outside, and we stand in a line… Someone hands us a piece of bread and we get a cup to scoop water, then we have to pass the cup after we drink.  It’s only once a day, and not every day.  Sometimes I share my bread with my brother because he’s so small.  Otherwise there’s nothing else to do.  We’re just waiting… The younger ones hope for their parents, but now I know they’re far away.  I have someone I talk to… A girl.  An older girl.  She tells me that the parents go to a different place and that we aren’t going to see them again.  She explains the war.  She’s so matter of fact about it, I feel like she’s given up hope.  That we’re never getting out.  I’m hoping that we win and my parents are okay.

She has dark hair too, and is allowed to wear a dress.  There are so many of us getting so skinny and some are very sick.  They take them away to a hospital, but no one ever comes back.  We never see them again.

EC: Can you take a word or two to describe what you’re feeling while you’re here?

Me: Mostly fear.  Fear we will never see our parents again… Hunger and cold, no blankets or coats, or anything.  There is a lot of yelling from the guards.  They don’t look at us; they try not to look at us.  But I look at them in their faces anyway.  I want them to see me.  I know they have children.  I don’t understand how they can do this.  They can’t all not have families of their own!  But no one takes care of us.  I have the girl as my friend though, and she talks to me.  But she’s not a lot of comfort because it’s all bad news.  She says we won’t be here long.  It will be over soon.  They come in waves… She had a job… She told me she’d take papers for the Nazis because she knew certain people wouldn’t suspect a young teenage girl as a spy… She knew her way around the city and would run errands.  She decided not to help them (the Nazis) anymore.  Even if it meant her life.  She quit.  She said she’d rather die than help them anymore.  So, they put her here, with us kids.  She says to me she doesn’t care.  She says she wants to die.

EC: Then what happens?

Me: There is a guard.  I see his face.  I feel like he hates his job.  I know he does, he hides it with his yelling.  But I know inside he doesn’t like what he does.  He feels pity for us.  I try to stand near him.  I feel like I remind him of his own son.  My brother and I are always together and always holding hands and I never take my arm off him if I can help it.  To keep him warm and to keep him safe.  There comes a time when they move us.  They move us to a building and the girl tells me we’re going to die there.  She says they call it a shower, but it’s not.  It’s poison.  She says to not fight it.  Just breathe it in and make it fast.  She asks us not to scream.  (She doesn’t want to hear us scream).  My brother and I promise not to.  We won’t.  So we go inside, it’s very crowded.  We’re all pressed together.  Some adult people are with us too now.  I don’t know where they came from.  We’re all brought together… We’re waiting… it seems like forever.  We know this is the end.  I’m praying.  I pray to God it’s quick.  Then… The mist… it is like a shower, but it’s … I take a deep breath and ask God if I can go at the same time as my brother so we can go up to heaven together.  It’s very fast!  I come out before my body is done living.  I feel no pain or suffering in my death.

EC: Tell me when you are leaving your body, when you are above it, looking down.  What do you see?

Me: I’m lying on the ground.  I’m naked.  Everyone is falling down around me.  But… I don’t see other souls… They each have their own way… I know my brother is safe and Ellen (the girl) is safe… And a light is there.

EC: Do you stay in the showers?

Me: No.  I pass right into the light.  It folds around me.

EC: Ok, so you don’t see any other souls?  You just move right into the light?

Me: Yes.  I’m instantly ok.  I felt bad for the guard… Pity was the last thing I felt.  Not fear… and I am in the light.  It’s very very bright, and I feel at peace.

EC: Just feel and be fully present with that peace.  Now, you’re in a soul state, directly connected to your higher consciousness.  This consciousness is like a vast computer storing all the knowledge of your past existence.  As an eternal, timeless being, you will be able to remember details about your immortal life between lives.  And thus be able to respond to questions about your life as a soul quite easily.  We’re going to be moving to a place of expanded awareness as you move upwards into that realm of an all-loving spirit.  Your soul can already feel the joy of being released.  You’ll have a sense of familiarity as we progress further.  Soon you will receive divine help in releasing negative energy from your previous life.  You’ll be entering your eternal home of planning and harmony.  So, does it feel as though the earth is totally gone now?

Me: Yes.

EC: As you find yourself moving higher and higher and further away…

Me: There are people everywhere… busy lights… moving about.  There is light everywhere.  It was an angel that brought me here… A Transport Seraphim.

EC: An angel helped you transport to this place?

Me: Yes, he folded around me.  I’ve done this before.

EC: He was an angel that just folded around you?  Did he help you move up into the light, or did you go up into the light yourself?

Me: It… was almost the same thing…  Now he releases me and says “Good to see you.  Welcome back!” and I go forward.  I go to a building.  I know this building.  Oh… (In awe of what I’m seeing), It’s a place we store all of our souls past histories.  Our lives… our information.

EC: Kind of a place to store all of your other lives you’ve lived?

Me: Yes, I’m on the steps of it.  I walk… well not really… I’m floating up the steps.

EC: Are there other souls around you?

ME: Yes.  They’re busy with their own… things… and they greet me in passing.  Like… I’ve only been gone a little while.  They’re looking at their charts.  There are a couple that have started making plans already… plans that include me!  My last life was so short… Oh…!  I only went to teach the guard compassion.  And… he should overcome… the coercion to do the job they wanted him to do.  Oh…!  All of these friends… They’re in the room… They have books open already looking at the next life, and there’s an old man there too… He brings me some scrolls (an armful) that I might want to look at.  He says, “You’re almost done now!”  I just have a few things to go over… “You can get them all in this next one,” he says.  He opens a scroll and says, “Yes, you were brave… You did what you were supposed to do.”

EC: What is it you were supposed to do?

Me: Comfort, compassion… it was so scary… (In my last life) there were so many (people) panicking, that if I didn’t panic, it would comfort them, and show strength and courage.  They could do it.  It would be easier… It didn’t have to be so bad.  Acceptance.  To show acceptance.  That no matter what, you’re okay.

EC: Ok…

Me: And I see that I looked at the soldier, looked at his face as I was going into the gas chamber.  I knew I was going to die, and I saw that he regretted everything.  He wished he could follow us in there.  That he could go too.  But he says in his mind that this is his punishment.  He will endure it then.  Whatever he has to, to the bitter end.  I see now… He is my dad in this life!!

EC: The guard is your father in this life?

Me: Yes, in my present life.  My little brother was my older brother James in this life now.  (Ellen, the friend I had, was Miranda, my daughter in this life now).

EC: Ok

Me: My mother, Mary is who my mother is now (in my current life).

EC: Same mother?

Me: Yes.  No one else came along with me in that life.

EC: So, in that life, those are the only ones that are in the life of Beth now?

Me: Yes.

EC: Is the soul of your father in this past life, not in the life of Beth?

Me: Noooo… He was from another group.  He was an advanced soul.

(A note about the character and personality of my father in this life, who was one of my prison guards in the last life:  He absolutely would not disciple us kids (my 3 brothers and I) while growing up.  He liked to play the “fun-loving” parent, and my mother has complained all our lives that she’s had to be the “bad guy” and was the only parent who would discipline us kids when we were growing up.  Another notable thing: my dad will NOT watch war movies).

EC: Ok, and in that past life, were you Jewish?

Me: Yes.  Yes, I was so proud that I was a Jew, because I reasoned that since Jesus was a Jew, it was a really good thing.  But now… I see that doesn’t matter… and I’m looking back on it and I’m… getting ready for this life.

EC: What do you do to prepare?  Let yourself move forward to this place of planning for this life.  Where you decide what type of body you want to take into your current life, and what family you want to come to.

Me: I’m only given one body choice this time.  They tell me it’s a gift.

EC:  And what do they mean by “it’s a gift?”

Me: For a good job… A job well done… I’m surrounded in light.  I see it… They said, “This will be a gift.  (For) this one last time.”

(At this point I begin to feel anxious)  I don’t want to leave my soul group; the others!  I want to stay and help them.  I don’t want to be done!

(A note on my one and only body choice given: It’s not that it was so exceedingly beautiful or magnificent, but that it was designed exactly as I needed for this life.  They knew I wouldn’t want to be too physically beautiful or anything like that.  Instead I was given a strong body, of average height, intelligence and looks; nothing to brag about!  But many times growing up I’ve thought to myself how I’m glad I was born bigger instead of petite so I could sling hay bales and do farm work with ease alongside my brothers.  I should also note that I have perfect vision, never had a cavity, and no major illnesses or injuries.  I have always appreciated this!  So, I guess I offer thanks for these small niceties!)

EC: Help the others in your soul group?

Me: Yes… but they tell me I didn’t have to go back (in this last life).  I didn’t even have to live the Jewish life… I didn’t have to do that…!

EC: You didn’t have to go to the Jewish life?

Me: Noooooo…. I said I would though, to help my mother, and my brother (and father, who was the prison guard).

EC: Ok, so as a soul, you elected to go to the Jewish life?

Me: Yes, and I’m glad it was short, because I have… lots of things… I have 3 groups of souls that I’m helping… Teaching… I’m guiding them… I am a guide… So glad I’m back again already… So much to do…

EC: When you were incarnate in the Jewish life, did that limit your ability to do your work in the spirit realm?

Me: No, but I want to get back to that.

EC: To get back to your work in the spirit realm?

Me: Yes.

EC: Tune into that.  Tell me more about your work in the spirit realm.

Me: Hmmmm… I’m being… allowed into things… I’m… a guide of… I was learning… I practiced in 3 lives… of Chris.  Who is my friend now, in this life.

EC: So, as a soul, you work as a guide for other souls, one being Chris?

Me: Yes, his guide (temporarily) let me work as part of his spirit team.

EC: And what team is this?

Me: His (Chris’) team of spirits that work with his life.

EC: So you’re one of the spirits that worked on the life of Chris?

Me: Yes, (as a practice guest guide in training) and the 3rd time (I acted as part of his guide team), they let me be… Like in charge.  We all help each other, if anything goes wrong, but I got to be the main one to go to him, to help him, (sort of like a team leader).

EC: Are some of his other guides in his life in the physical now, or are they still in spirit realm?

Me: They are all in spirit realm.  (I’m not actually his guide!  He just allowed me to practice on him.  Spirits do that for each other, otherwise we have no other way to learn.)

EC: So you’re the only one from this team of guides in the physical now?

Me: Yes.  He’s in another group, different from mine.  We’ve had other lives incarnated together.

EC: Is he in the same soul group as yourself?

Me: No, but next to it.  We have a lot of fun lives together.  Adventuring…

EC: Tell me about one of your most fun lives together…

Me: We were on a ship in the ocean.  There was an island we landed on, and it had everything we needed.  It was beautiful, and as a crew, we decided to stay there for a very long time.  There was a waterfall, and we could catch fish very easily.  It was always warm… We didn’t need much for shelter… Mostly we’d just hunt and fish… There was plentiful fruit… We didn’t want to go back, but some had families… We stayed there for a long time… Several years…

EC: On the island?

Me: Yes.  It was like… a paradise…

EC: Did you have family on the island, or at home?

Me: No family on the island.  I… I was an orphan.  I had no family.  I was 22… I didn’t care about anything, but then I realized, yes, I should go back.  We can’t stay there forever.  I thought, “I can’t grow old here, and die here… no one would ever know that I had existed…”

(This was a trader ship from England during medieval times.  It was truly heaven to discover such an island when everyone back home was barely surviving and starving.  It was a crew of 12 men, plus the captain.  The captain was my friend Shannon in this life.  A brave, honest, and good captain, whom I greatly admired.  We never saw each other again after parting when we returned to England.  My friend Chris however, died of sickness on the return trip, spread from rats that multiplied on the ship while we tarried on the island).

EC: What was it like when you came back?

Me: It was… depressing… I had to find a new job because I realized I didn’t want to live on the ocean.  I had to find work and would sweep and clean…  I didn’t know if there would ever be a woman I would find… I had… nothing to offer.

EC: Did you ever meet a woman?

Me: (Pause) Yes! He’s my husband (Paul) now!  I don’t know if it was pity… or what… She worked in a restaurant for her parents.  She said I could do dishes… and I could bathe in their home… If I promised not to steal or rape… (I laugh) which I thought, “Of all the things I would never do!”  That’s the last thing I would ever do to their daughter… She’s so beautiful, and so kind, and she’s very petite, with blonde curly hair and sparkling blue eyes and she smells wonderful.  She helps me find cloths… She gives me some her father no longer wears.  She tells me not to say anything… Maybe her father won’t recognize I’m wearing his old clothes.  But he does.  He knows his daughter is being kind, and he encourages kind acts… So he lets her give me his clothes.  And I am… I’m not sure… I am… 27 and she is 25… She doesn’t like most of the men her parents try to find for her… She’s very independent… (Whispering) and we secretly decide to get married!

EC: So do her parents ever approve of you getting married?

Me: There is initial disapproval because they think she can do better, but I take good care of her, and I’m kind.  And I’m learning things… new skills… I’m learning to work with wood… To build things… I build furniture.  I really enjoy that.  I’ve been finding wood… it is a meager income.  Her parents decide that’s good enough.  They see how happy she is, and that she’ll be taken care of.  I have dark hair, and blue eyes… I have a beard and a mustache, I’m tall… lean… I have strong arms and a hairy chest.  We have two boys.  My wife is saddened that we haven’t had any girls yet.  I laugh, and tell her that girls are so much trouble.  She really wants a daughter… I tell her it’s best to have two brothers… and I see… Oh!  One of them is Chris… (He must’ve reincarnated after his death from sickness on the boat) the younger one… My other son is my brother Steve (in this current life).  Miranda, my daughter in this life, is my wife’s grandmother.  I call her my grandma too.  And she loves those boys… She’s so happy I met her granddaughter.

EC: And you and your wife love one another?

ME: Yes.  We don’t need much.  We are happy.  It’s a good life there… I was glad I came back from the island for this.

EC: Ok.  When I play the tone, let yourself move back into the spirit realm, allow yourself to get a sense now of your own soul group… Move there now… Allow the tone to take you deeper into the connection with your own soul group…

ME: Very large… I… It’s a mixture of many groups.  I’m being asked to go down to the large group.  I’m being asked to go, but I don’t have to…There’s so much to do.  I could stay… and be a spirit guide… I could stay and do that for them, but I said, “No, I will go down.  I will incarnate with them directly.  I can help them better that way.”

EC: You could help them more if you were physical?  If you incarnated physically?

ME: Yes.  Yes, and we’re internetworking… Sort of like a big… Forum.  Where we all decide we want to do this.  We want to make the most of our incarnation.  To leap forward.

EC: Ok, so you can move forward?

ME: Yes.

EC: Say more about that.  In what ways do you want to leap forward?

ME: To move up.  To move closer… To God.  To progress… To be done with the physical incarnations.

EC: If you wanted to, could you be done with physical incarnations?

ME:  Yes… I could have been done 3 incarnations ago.

EC: Ok, and why haven’t you stopped?

ME:  I had to finish this… I felt I had to.  I wanted to help, and I want to finish out… in the physical.  The small cracks… the small parts in my energy… They told me that would come with just helping from the spirit realm, and that being a guide would take care of it, but I wanted to do it myself (in the physical).  I sometimes like the longer or harder way.  I wanted to fill in my cracks, so I would be perfect.  Then I’d be the most effective Spirit Guide, and… I heal… and they come to me… they look for me… they all know my name…

EC: Who do you heal and how do you heal them?

ME: The souls, the people.  When they come across.  I touch them… I have a green energy I use… I touch their “bodies” or souls.  I… help “sew” them together again.  I re-assemble their broken energy (from particularly damaging lives).  I really like this part (of my job).  I like it more than being a guide almost.

EC:  And do you do this in the spirit realm or in the physical realm?

ME: I do it in the spirit realm, but I see… I’m drawn to that here (on earth) too.  I see that… I want to enfold my energies around them, like I do when they (the souls) cross over.  Sometimes I just fold around them.

EC:  In spirit realm you do this?

ME: Yes.

EC: Ok.

ME:  I do that… and there’s a lot of planning… I work with… So many spirits come up to me… all the time!  It almost reminds me of being in the pharmacy (my current job in this life).  Souls are bringing me questions… and… The planning… but it… seems to never slip out of my mind… the information I gather… I never have to worry about forgetting anything… things will happen how we decide.

EC:  In this incarnation of Beth, who is it you specifically came here to be a guide for besides Chris?

ME: Shannon (my friend)… My mother… Miranda (daughter)… Paul (husband)… Sam (son)… ALL of them.  I want to help ALL of them!  A whole procession of people now comes before me… some have come; some are with me, and a long procession that have yet to come to me.  I will nudge them in small ways… Nudge their minds into thoughts they wouldn’t have ever had without contact with me.  Just to get their minds thinking about… even if it’s just vague wondering… Thinking about the ascension plan.  It’s all helpful.

EC: Tell me in what ways are you most supposed to help your mother, Pat?

ME: To overcome fear.  That she has nothing to fear or worry about.  Her children are safe… She worries so much about everybody.  She doesn’t have to worry.  She needs to let go of that.  And Miranda… to grow her.  I… build people.  I’m a builder (by nature).  I like to build people.  I like to see what they can do, what they’re capable of on their own.  Just like when I’m a guide on the other side.  I give them a few things, and then see what they do with it.  I like to plant the seeds, I don’t want to do it for them, and that’s where my mother worries.  (Such as with my children) She worries I let them do too much, my kids.  I see that now… That yes, there is worry around how I let them ride motorcycles, and run around by themselves doing dangerous things in the woods.  They don’t learn if they don’t experience their limits!  I know they’re ok.

EC: And what are you here to most help your husband Paul with?

ME: (pause) He’s here to help me, actually.

EC: In what way?

ME: Reminding me… I’m not the body that contains me.  He’s here to keep me grounded, and keep me on track.  To not forget… the amnesia of starting over…(in a new incarnation).  His presence helps me remember who I really am.  I… He helps me unfold.  He’s on his own course, and he’s doing very well.  We… help each other in our weaker areas, and I remind him of compassion and to be tolerant.  He is a good person already, he has mastered many things…  He enjoys learning through physical rather than reading books like I do.  He enjoys experience first hand.  I see… I see in the spirit world… He is a green light… turning to blue…  Miranda is a violet/blue color… Sam is a green going blue too… but he… always picks such hard… paths.   He likes to bite off more than he can chew.  Ambitious, but that too can slow a soul down.

EC:  What is something that can be helpful for Samuel to know?

ME:  To relax.  To relax into it.  He resists.  He resists things.  He can be more effective if he doesn’t fight against his circumstances and surroundings.

EC: And now allow yourself to move up to a mirror that reflects back your own appearance and colors, and what do you notice?

ME: (some hesitation- I’m afraid to look!) I look… like a flower… white in the middle… Looks like opal.  It shimmers like opal in my middle.  Radiating out… I see a thin band of rainbow colors… all the colors are accounted for.  I feel… balanced.  The center is fully me… but it’s like everything… It’s not a color.  It shimmers.  Like… Light.  I see… when I started this life… Oh!  He’s here!!! It’s Eyohimir!!!  He is my (first) guide!  He is pure purple.  He stands behind me and he explains that, when I started this life, I was green, moving to blue but this last bit I didn’t have to finish (on Earth).  I could’ve finished on the other side as a guide.  He pats my back… He says I’ve taken a harder road, but it is good to help others.  It builds a soul even further to do it this way.

EC: How does he feel you’re doing?

ME: (long pause, listening to my guide) He says I judge myself… Strictly.  He laughs about that.  He says to keep going forward.  Forward exactly according to plan.  He says I’ve listened, and heard him… I’m getting it… I’m getting past it… Past… the barrier… the amnesia…(of incarnation).  Oh… the group… the group of us… We are refractors… We reflect light.  Oh!  (I gasp in surprise) We’re… moving up a level (in this lifetime)!!

EC: All of humanity is?

ME: Yes!  We’re going from orange, to yellow.  We’re going to jump together.  I want to help everyone move up together.  That’s what we came here to do.  We’re going to make a leap as a group.  A leap in consciousness.

EC: You mean all of humanity?

ME: Yes.  The entire planet.  Everyone.  We’re going to bring everyone.  Everyone makes the leap.  One step up to the next level of awareness, to level 3, we’re going up to yellow.

(Pause) I feel like we’re just walking quietly now.

EC: You and your guide?

ME: Yes.  We’re outside and it’s grassy.  He tells me now that it’s time to stop.  He says I will have to go.  He’s going too, but he’s ahead of me.  He just came back to meet me for this. (My Life Between Lives regression)

EC: Ask him if we can ask a question before he leaves?

ME: Yes.

EC: Beth wanted to know if there were any views or beliefs (of hers) that should be adjusted or corrected? (In this life)

ME: (Eyohimir speaking) None.  Nothing.  All is perfect, and as it should be.  What she doesn’t understand, she will in time.  It will all unfold.  Releasing judgment is key.

EC: Judgment regarding what?

ME: (Whispering) Myself.

EC: Releasing judgment of yourself?

ME: Yes.

EC: What judgments about “Self” should you release?

ME: That I can’t do this.  That I’m still not there, still not ready.

EC: The judgments of self that you’re “not there”?

ME: Yes.  That I’m not… that I will never be… good enough.  To be worthy.

EC: And where did these beliefs come from?  This incarnation or a different one?

ME: They’ve always been there… for a long time.  (Following me through many incarnations).

EC: Ok, become aware of the dense energy of your unworthiness.  If it’s not true, you can let it go.  Let it go from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy bodies.  You don’t have to hang onto that which is untrue.  You can release the energy of unworthiness, release the belief of it.  Let go of all that thought form energy.  In you body-mind-soul system, release it.  Let it all go.  It’s not true, and will only limit what you want to do.  Let go, you can feel it leaving… Feel with your senses that it is leaving… Can you feel it leaving?

ME: Yes, my guide and I turn to look at this energy going, and he says to you “thank you.”

EC: Yeah… Now this is what I like to do because I have been taught, when you took on that thought form/energy you lost some of your own “Self.”  Now you get back your own Self, your own potential that was lost, when you took on that thought form/energy.  Now let it all come back, back into you.  Body, mind, soul system.  Bring that back… Feel it coming back.

ME: Yes, it feels wonderful…

EC: Yes, bring it all back to that which was covered up… What does it feel like to get it all back?

ME: Deep peace.  I feel… bigger… fuller…

EC: More complete?

ME: Yes… Like I can do anything…

EC: You feel yourself as a being of pure creative potential.  Now I’m going to play a tone, while I play it, imagine cementing this energy; allow your consciousness to go deeper into the truth of your being and your potential…

ME: (After the tone is done, speaking very softly) So quiet… and I’m not alone… I’ve moved… Now there are four beings.

EC: Four Beings?

ME: Yes, they look like… Ovals or almond shaped pillars… There… They surround me… (Speaking barely above a whisper now) They love me.  They tell me there is more to do… It’s okay to go forward, and don’t worry about the others.  Peace.

EC: Ask them what is the best way to move forward?

ME: To let go… To trust… To love… I don’t have to “do” anything… I always feel like I have to do something, but I don’t have to do anything.  I simply have to want it.

EC: To want what?

ME: To go. To BE… Whatever perfect is.  It’s okay…

(Long silence)

EC: Just to accept your innate “okayness” now?

ME: Yes.

(Another long silence)

ME: So quiet, so peaceful…

EC: Are the Beings still with you?

ME: Yes

EC: Are you familiar with these Beings?  Who or what are these beings?

ME: (Very quietly and very slowly I say): They have loved me for a long long time… They’ve helped me from the beginning… I remember I used to be… intimidated by them… They are my council.  They said now that… That I hold on to… connections… to… I just don’t want to leave anybody behind.  That some of my group has already moved on ahead of me.  I know they’re waiting for me.  I don’t want to leave the others behind.  They said I have to trust.

EC: To trust that they (those souls I’m concerned about leaving behind) will be guided?

ME: Yes.  That they will be okay.  It’s only for a little while, and there are other things to do… It’s okay… Don’t worry about them, though I feel bad for their suffering… but each person has their own way to go, their own path to follow.

EC: What’s the best way for Beth to be in relation with them?

ME: Not judging… to be… exactly how I am as their guiding spirit.  To let that come to the surface, to embrace them as I do when we are in spirit.  To trust… to trust that if I forget, if I fail at this, there are so many others to step in… To ensure that my goals are accomplished.

I… am feeling like we’re moving forward… Like we’re moving higher and higher… We’re going to another place now.

EC: Ok, just be present with that, and report to me anything you notice, feel, observe, or experience as you move further and higher.

ME: It’s another… it feels like a place but, it’s full of light… All the lights are purple or blue and they go back and forth (to Earth).  Back down to help the other guides and souls and others in training, that are perfecting.  We’re stopping now, (the four Beings and I) and I feel like… This is where I learn.  This is where I rest, and where I enjoy myself.  This is where I experience my Light.

EC: Your own divinity?  Your own divine Light?

ME: Yes.

EC: And what does it feel like to experience your own Divine Light?

ME: I… don’t feel any suffering… Joy!  Oh I… Oh… I’m told this is just the edge.  There’s more to… This is the beginning of another stage.  That there is other work to be done… That this is a whole other group.  None of my soul group is with me here… This is part of what bothers me… But they tell me I can go back any time…

EC: You can go back at any time?  What is it like if you follow their advice?  What will it be like if you move forward with this new group?  Get a sense of what that would be like for you…

ME: We’re moving again.  We’re going to another area… and it’s… there is one (planet) that is just beginning.  That I helped start, but… they’re anxious for me to come help finish… I’m helping… another race of beings… We’re creating a planet for them to use.  For learning… Making mortal containers for mortal experiences.  This gives the opportunity to use a body for the ascension plan.  To perfect!  One Being in particular says… He likes my sense of humor.  He wants that incorporated into the mortal genetics.  It will add a particular flavor to their… experience.  We give ourselves to create with energy.  It is filtered through us.  I see… I am also helping with the animals.  I feel like They are gently pulling me away to come do this… Creating.  I am struggling with this.  I feel like I have last minute things I need to do… Before I fulfill the new function.  (The other souls here feel like they come from many different planets.  The “sense of humor” they talked about me contributing, is genetically from the whole human race, not just from me alone).

EC: What would be your function here?

ME: To watch.  To guide.

EC: Is this new planet like ours?

ME: No… No… It’s very quiet and peaceful.  There is nothing wrong here yet.  We’re working on it as a group.

EC: You’re working on this new planet?

ME: Um hm.  We watch how things grow and we help it along… sort of “tweak” it.

EC: Do some souls incarnate to that planet?

ME: Not yet.  Not yet… We’ve had visitors come look.  We have a start.  It hasn’t been (exactly) decided yet who’s going to live here.  It’s going to be used though.

There’s another planet dying… We’re going to use some of their DNA to help.  To jump-start a species on the planet.  So they don’t have to start as far back as we did.  They will begin slightly evolved, to start from, and then they can finish.  We need more information though, more instruction.  We’re not sure how to do this.  It’s part of my learning.  I don’t know how to do it exactly… I don’t want to make anything wrong!  We’re waiting for everyone to be there in our group, so we can learn together.  Then the new race will be ours to nurture.  There aren’t any oceans on this planet… There are rivers and streams and mountains… There isn’t any variation in atmospheric temperature… It’s always warm and tropical.  There is more oxygen, very little else in the air but almost pure oxygen.  We’re trying to get cycles of rain.  All the moisture right now is from the ground itself.  We’re looking into the rain… We need another way of making moisture.

EC: Are there animals?

ME: Yes.

EC: What are they like?

ME: All kinds… all very gentle… Um, there’s a big one.  It looks like an elephant, but not as big.  Not as long of a trunk.  It is grey, with a stripe down each side.  It has thick, fluffy fur… It’s kind of curly.  We think it will be useful to the new natives for both food and transportation, but the people… The people who will come… They don’t want to have to kill things, so we have to figure out how… How the people we are developing the planet for, can eat.  They say they don’t want to have to kill and eat things in that kind of life cycle.  They don’t want to… Start at that point.  Too far back.  It would be impossible for them, they say.  It would go against their souls.  They would be ineffectual hunters too.  So we decided to go back and think about it some more… How we can make it a place that will suit what they’re looking for.

They (the four Beings) are telling me now it’s time to go back.  This was just to show… It’s part of what I do.  We’re floating back now.  As a group, they move around me again like a globe.  They join at the points on the bottom and top.  I’m in the center and we’re moving back.  Ah… I see them all… It’s like everyone is working so hard… moving about.  (Joyous work!  Not at all like the drudgery we do on earth!)  Interacting… I’m now in a sort of public place…

EC: What place is it you’re at now?

ME: We’ve moved back, sort of outside a building where there’s learning.  I see now… there’s not a lot left.  I want to go back to my planet, (the one I’m helping create) but… I feel like I’m abandoning… but… they have their own guides…

EC: The planet you were just at?

ME: No.  Earth.  The souls on earth that I’ve worked with for so long.

EC: On earth.

ME: Yes.  It’s strange to move to something completely different.

EC: That’s some of the work you’re doing as a soul in the spirit realm?

ME: Yes.

EC: So you have work in many different areas, some on earth and some developing life on this other planet?

ME: Yes.  I don’t want to give any of it up.

EC: What do your guides or counsel say about this?  Do they say you need to give anything up?

ME: No… but at some point, I will need all of my energy…to go to the new planet.  I… All.. I can’t describe… I will need all my energy in one spot.  To learn new levels… of parenting.  Of being truly… a guiding force… I… don’t want to make any mistakes, but… there is a whole team of us.  I just enjoy so much… The bringing of people along…

EC: Helping them?

ME: Building them.

EC: Helping them grow?

ME: Yes!  This is why they want me now on the team of the other planet.  I am ready for that now.  I can visit here (Earth) again, but… my visits will be more spread out… and never again as a mortal human.  My spirit has to connect… become one with the other planet for a while.  To…help from the inside out… To… awaken it.

EC: Do you do that only in the spirit realm, or is it something you should try to do while here, using the life of Beth?

ME: I see how it projects out… I can bring it out… It’s how I draw (out) and make it grow in others.  Just by… proximity.  By intention.  By wanting.  I see there are many ways to do that.  Refracting energy… in others.  It’s all the same thing!  We have… a brotherly connection…

EC: Who’s “we”?

ME: All of us.  I see now that all ways are equal.  When you help one, you help us all.  (Long pause) I recognize all these spirits.

EC: You recognize ALL the spirits around you?

ME: Yes.  I recognize them.  I feel like I’m… Different in that… I want to be available… Like they can come to me.  I’m out and about a lot.

EC: You want to be available?  For them to approach you?

ME: Yes.

EC: For any council?

ME: Yes.  (Pause) I need to… Sometimes as I move, I listen to them.  I think… I stretch them… Not like judging… but challenging them.  I know they’re capable of more… always exponentially more…

EC: So, tell me what you do much of the time in the spirit realm?

ME: I confer… The others… The counsel.  We discuss what a soul needs most.  We… plan.  We… decide.  We see… We see everything… We understand what they need.  We come up with their choices… of body… of life challenges… I enjoy this too, but I have to give it all up for a while to go to the other planet.  I need to continue on with my own journey.

EC: What do you most need as a soul?

ME: Trust.

EC: Trust in what?

ME: Trust in my path.  That there is only one-way.  All paths will eventually lead to this one way.  Trust that the puzzle pieces will fit and fall into place.  My path forward will form…

EC: You have to trust that others will grow and evolve?

ME: Yes, and I have my own path to trust.  We all have our own paths but we’re all… connected.  Always, in ALL WAYS.  We never really leave anyone.  I’m told I’m very close… Close to moving to the next step.

EC: Are there any other souls close, that can move with you?

ME: Not for a little while.  Miranda.  She’s getting close…

(Long silence) I’m experiencing… Silence.  The Beings have moved around me… They’re… Beaming energy into me…

EC: They’re beaming energy into you?

ME: Uh Hm… I’m being given… a rest.

EC: You’re being given a rest?

ME: Yes.  To think about things… Process…

EC: Yes, let yourself rest.  Allow any insights to just drop in.  While you’re resting, would it be okay if I played this tone?  Allow the sound vibration to assist in the raising of your own vibration…

ME: (After tone is complete) As it was in the beginning, now and every shall be… No end.  No time.

EC: Ultimately, there is no time.

ME: Yes.

(Long silence- I feel as though time has stopped.  As though I’m being shown the peace and silence of timelessness).

EC: Is there anything else you should inquire about or ask these Beings?  If there is anything else you should ask about that has not been asked?

ME: There is no more information that can be shared at this time.

EC: Nothing more?

ME: No.  There is just a getting ready… ready for my next… journey.

EC: Ok, so is it possible that this incarnation of Beth will be the last human incarnation on the planet Earth?

ME: If I choose, yes, but I feel like… There’s one more thing… but I don’t have to…

EC: So the choice will be yours.

ME: Yes.  I’m being promised, that by the end, I will be fully awake.

EC: By the end of this incarnation?

ME: Yes, the last veil will be lifted by the end of this life.  They’ve promised me that.  They do not want to reveal too much now… Or it will ruin… The surprise at the end.

EC: The last veil will be lifted by the end of the life of Beth?

ME: Yes.

EC: Is there any information that can be given to your soul?  Anything that could help others in the life of Beth?

ME: Feelings… don’t lie.  If it feels wrong, it is wrong.  That is how the guides speak to us.  Through our consciousness.  Practice listening to them.

(Long pause of silence… Here I am feeling the deepest silence I have ever known… All thought has ceased.  I simply Am.)

EC: What are you noticing, or feeling or observing at just this moment?

ME: I am enveloped… in peace.  There is light all around.  There is still business on the outside, souls moving about, but I am in a deep, deep peaceful state.

EC: Ok…

ME: I’m… experiencing… Receiving… an energy…

EC: What is the purpose of the energy that you are receiving?

ME: It is a form of rest.  It is quiet time.  Time… to rejuvenate.  It’s what we do… in preparation… It’s input.  Information.

EC: So just rest and soak this vibrational energy in… Would it be alright if I played the tone again?

ME: Yes.

EC: Just continue to soak up the energy and these high vibrations.

(A very, very long silence follows, upwards of almost 15min… I don’t feel compelled to say or do anything further.  I just want to bask in this complete and deep silence as long as I’m allowed to by my Guides, trusting they will guide my hypnotist to speak and move me on when They are done).

EC: Is there anything else that you notice, or are observing or feeling?

ME: No… I feel they’re telling me to come back. (In a barely audible whisper) I don’t want to go…

EC: Ask them if there is a way that you can go with and tune into this energy again?

ME: Yes.  Become very still.

EC: Become very still?

ME: Yes, and I can use Reiki on myself… (That is one way that will begin the stillness process entry).

EC: Ok, to use Reiki on yourself.  Is there any other advice for the life of Beth?

ME: No, just go forward with bravery.  Proceed forward!

EC: Is there anything else that needs inquiring into regarding the life of Beth, or anyone else, before we come back?

ME: No.

EC: Ok, are we ready to come back?

ME: Yes.

(Now begins my awakening induction)

EC: So, take a moment and bid farewell for now.  They are always around, it is just a journey inward to meet with them again, but now this time I want you to count up from 1 to 5, and allow yourself to emerge, to feel alive, refreshed, and better in every way.  One; you’re back together, in body, mind, and soul, all together.  Two; leaving behind any heavy dense energy that no longer serves the highest good of Beth, particularly the energy of unworthiness.  Letting that go now and forever, and instead bring back with you the wisdom, insight, and clarity your soul felt, the wisdom and insight of your own guides.  Three; you now begin to feel the full support of the chair beneath your back, beneath your legs, and take a deep breath into the body now as I count.  Four; feeling the arms and legs in the chair, feeling the body in the chair, feeling breath in the body, the link between the body and that eternal self.  As you focus on your breath, you tune into that part of you that is eternal.  One last breath… Five; wide awake, welcome back to this dimension!

 

ME: Wow.  I just wanted to stay there.  Was that real?

EC: Yeah, it was real.  This earth realm is more the illusion.  You have to go by what “feels” real.

ME: Mm Hmm

EC: Sometimes it’s that deep peace and joy.

ME: I wonder how long they would’ve let me stay there?

EC: What I’ve found is that your body can only withstand so much of that state.

ME: Yeah, I felt like they were saying, “it’s time to go back now.” (I noted with some surprise at this time, that it had been over 3 hours into my session!  It felt like I’d only been in the chair 20 mins!  One of my first thoughts was that I wasn’t really under hypnosis, and I’d wasted my money because only 20 min or so had passed and it hadn’t worked!  My sense of time had definitely been distorted).

EC: But your body can only take so much of that high vibration and you would’ve come back intuitively.

ME: I feel like I want to cry…

EC: Yes, this experience touches something deep within.  People often do cry after a session between lives.  Tears of joy.

ME: (Yes, joy).  Wow, there aren’t enough people doing this as professionals.  They should teach this in school…

(Here the tape recording is turned off)

Client’s thoughts post-session

My first thought is that I can’t believe I was ever in a concentration camp!  In this life, I’ve never had any gut reaction to references of the Holocaust or anything Jewish.  It’s a horrible historical event, but I never felt anything personal about it.  However, if for the sake of arguing, that was a real life I’ve lived, then there is nothing about me that was damaged by it.  Should I hate Hitler?  I am still me; full of love and light, and no harm has come to me despite that past life.  Then am I to assume everyone else who went through something terrible like that is, or will be happy and whole too?  That means that anything that happens to me in THIS life will not harm me either.  There is nothing to fear.  The soul cannot be killed or harmed or damaged.  The body is nothing without us, but dust.  All is forgiven in the end.

Another thing I noticed was the all-encompassing sense of Oneness.  It appeared to me that energy flowed visibly everywhere, and that our souls looked like bright spots amongst a sea of love.  I wasn’t aware of what I was looking at until recently during a brief meditation I was suddenly aware that God could hear me breathing.  This sensation went deeper, and I felt that God was inside my body, breathing along with me, and that my very cells were moving because of His love.  Nothing could be closer than this!  The protons and neutrons and electrons were all using God’s energy to spin and move.  Nothing exists by accident.  Then my awareness flowed outward to the people around me, and they too were being infused with God’s love and energy, and not just them, but everyone in the country.  Then my awareness flowed out around the whole world, and everyone in it was moving and living via God’s Will and energy.  Then I moved another step out into the solar system and around other planets with sentient beings living on them, and they too were immersed in this love and energy, and beyond them to the angels and beings I’ve never seen or heard of!  All without breaking my connection to the original energy that was breathing along with me, the energy that knows how many times my heart has beat.  Then I suddenly became afraid because I was so far out, and everything was so vast, and I came back to myself.  I realized how we were all one.  All interconnected.  Then this message came to me: we are collectively like a pond of water.  If a stone is thrown into the pond, only a few drops of water actually touch it, but the pond as a whole, experiences the stone.  Our individual souls are the drops of water that make up the pond.  What the pond experiences, we ALL experience together, even if the event doesn’t touch us directly.  What we do to one another, we do to all.  You do to yourself.  This is why it is so important you treat each other as you’d have yourself treated.  Do unto others!  This is how we are all connected by God’s love and energy.  I then understood what I’d seen while under hypnosis.  I saw how all the souls seemed to be individuals, yet completely connected at the same time.  We are all made of the same stuff, inside and out- we swim in it!  We are literally swimming in God.  To think we can somehow be separate and alone is impossible!  You just wouldn’t exist if that were true.  I also sense that we can direct this energy with our intentions and desires.  This is how we manifest what we think about.  God only wants us to have what we want, and to be happy!  What you have in your life right now is there because on some level, you have asked for it.

The thing is, I now see that there is no love but Gods.  All other “love” is false.  The only true love is the unconditional kind, the kind that does not change, and cannot be taken away, like we do to each other.  Ours is a love that can get angry, or threatens to leave, or hates.  True love is incapable of turning into something else!  There is not one single person on this planet that truly knows how to love.  The same is true of forgiveness.  If anyone truly knew how to forgive as God does, then it would be as though the event had never taken place.  Much like my incarnation as a Jew.  It’s as though it never happened.  All is forgiven.  If you think you have forgiven someone truly, then is your heart at peace to the extent it’s as though the event never happened?  And then ask yourself if this is true of everything anyone has ever done to you?  That is the depth of God’s forgiveness towards us.  Not just forgotten, but as though it never was.  If we leave even one person or thing un-forgiven, then we do not know how to forgive at all.  Either all is forgiven or nothing is.  There is not one single person on this planet (including myself) that understands love or forgiveness.  The wonderful thing is though, I see now that this ability to love and forgive is returned to us once we leave our human bodies behind.  We shed the ego and return to the pure state that is natural to us.  So, how then do we achieve this while in human form?  I now understand that this is the goal of our incarnations- to achieve this level of love and forgiveness and bring it to earth.  This is why we’re here and what the planet needs most.  What humanity is striving for!  This is accomplished by one simple thing:  to understand and know that none of this is real, and that none of it is anything you want.  All that surrounds us can be discarded.  The only thing that is real is what you can take with you when you die.  So far as I’ve seen, that’s only your soul.  Let everything else go- the body, the material accumulations we strive for, and the accolades we want others to give us. None of it is important or even real.  Once we can look past all the garbage, we can see each other as we truly are, and from that vision will true love and forgiveness flow.  Then we will bring heaven to earth.

What is a Past Life Regression?

Bridging Science, Human Development and Enlightenment

Reading Time: 4 minutes

I like to use this blog to introduce ideas, people and resources for the purpose of personal and spiritual development. Today I’d like to share about the work of Dr. David Hawkins, an enlightened, yet scientific-minded individual who created a bridge between science, human development and enlightenment. Two of his well known books are Power vs Force (detailed below) and his later book Letting Go, which describes a “simple and effective means to let go of the obstacles to Enlightenment and become free of negativity”.

The brief excerpt below is taken from an article from the website http://personality-development.org/. It begins by introducing David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., and then gives a brief summary on part of his book Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. In this book he shares what he determines to be the level of consciousness of the planet around the year 2000. It would be interesting to note how the consciousness level has increased over the past 20 years or so. Various teachers and mystics have said it is beginning to increase at an accelerated pace.

Please enjoy:

David Hawkins is a psychiatrist who not only tackled years of clinical experience, but has conducted extensive research. His career spans from 1952 when he earned his MD from The Medical College of Wisconsin (established as Marquette University School of Medicine). In 1995, he also earned his PhD. in Philosophy from Columbia Pacific University. In his lifetime, he has founded and led several research laboratories and clinics.

Levels of Consciousness in “Power VS Force”

The most well known publication of Dr. Hawkins is “Power VS. Force – The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior” (Hawkins, 2002). In the book, Hawkins extrapolates a hierarchical model of personality development. Hawkins argues that the personality can be described in a scoring system which ranges from 0 to 1000 (0 being the lowest score, 1000 being absolute enlightenment or pure awareness) (Hawkins 2002, 75-85). It is of interest to note that Hawkins argues that objective truth is not only existent, but may be reached and understood by any individual using a technique called kinesiology. By accessing the “Database of Consciousness,” an individual may have questions answered with 100% certainty. His research shows that results are repeatable and accurate (Hawkins 2002, 29-30), regardless of the individual who performs the kinesiologic testing.

Each energy level outlined by Hawkins is extrapolated in the book. These levels of consciousness permeate the individual’s entire perspective and dictate the way they relate to their life experiences. For Hawkins, moving upward into higher states of consciousness is the only way to make meaningful progress in one’s life. Sadly, the average individual only moves up 5 points in their entire lifetime. However, a focused effort to move into higher states can lead to incredible leaps of awareness in relatively short periods of time. Individuals will fluctuate between different points on the scale, but an overall average number can be calculated using kinesiological testing. Briefly, here are the energy levels outlined by David Hawkins:

20: Shame

30: Guilt

50: Apathy

75: Grief

100: Fear

125: Desire

150: Anger

175: Pride

200: Courage

250: Neutrality

310: Willingness

350: Acceptance

400: Reason

500: Love

540: Joy

600: Peace

700-1000: Enlightenment

Although Hawkins goes into great detail about the various levels of consciousness, he points out two turning points as most crucial.

“On our scale of consciousness, there are two critical points that allow for major advancement. The first is at 200, the initial level of empowerment: Here, the willingness to stop blaming and accept responsibility for one’s own actions, feelings, and beliefs arises – as long as cause and responsibility are projected outside of oneself, one will remain in the powerless mode of victimhood. The second is at the 500 level, which is reached by accepting love and nonjudgemental forgiveness as a lifestyle, exercising unconditional kindness to all persons, things, and events without exception.” (Hawkins 2002, 238).

These two thresholds are primary challenges for many individuals today. Moving beyond them represents a significant barrier which can only be overcome through a significant shift in personality. After moving beyond these realms, progression into increasingly higher states is very natural and less challenging.

Measuring Collective Consciousness

Through kinesiological testing, David Hawkins and his researchers estimate the energy state of humanity’s collective consciousness to sit around 207 (Hawkins 2002, 95). This is just above the 200 threshold, in which we move from an overall destructive force to an overall creative force on the planet. Therefore, Hawkins is very optimistic about the progress being made. However, Hawkins warns that “Any meaningful human satisfaction cannot commence until the level of 250, where some degree of self-confidence begins to emerge as a basis for positive life experiences in the evolution of consciousness.” (Hawkins 2002, 96).

Counterbalancing Lower States of Consciousness

Individuals in states below 200 are explained as counterproductive to society. Their actions, in general, cause more harm than good. Furthermore, Hawkins warns that more than 85% of humans alive today still calibrate below the critical 200 level threshold (Hawkins 2002, 95). This is not surprising given that the majority of humanity still lives in extreme poverty, in which development of consciousness is nearly impossible.

The reason that our collective score sits at 207 is because the scale is logarithmic. Individuals who maintain higher states of awareness counterbalance large numbers of minds in lower states. Although only 4 percent of people alive today have reached the critical energy field of 500, individuals in these states have extremely powerful influence on the well being of society as a whole. In fact, Hawkins points out that only .4 percent of the population reaches 540, and only 1 in 10 million people will ever reach the level of 600 (Hawkins 2002, 95). He also points out that there are currently 12 persons on the planet who calibrate at 700 (Hawkins 2002, 282).

To gain perspective of the power of individuals who reach higher states – and it emphasize the importance of our individual capacity to reach these higher states – Hawkins lays out the mathematics (Hawkins 2002, 282):

One individual at 700 counterbalances 70 million individuals below level 200

One individual at 600 counterbalances 10 million individuals below level 200

One individual at 500 counterbalances 750,000 individuals below level 200

One individual at 400 counterbalances 400,000 individuals below level 200

One individual at 300 counterbalances 90,000 individuals below level 200

Twelve individuals at 700 equals one avatar at level 1000

Because of the logarithmically increasing power of individuals at higher states of consciousness, humanity has finally reached a level above the critical threshold of 200. Hawkins stresses that each person has the capacity to have significant influence on the well being of society by prioritizing progression of their individual consciousness.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Teachers That Help You Awaken From the Human Dream

Reading Time: 2 minutes

There comes a time in every soul’s journey that they begin to feel the pull to spiritually awaken. What does it mean to spiritually awaken? Many things…here are a few:

  1. You begin to identify less with your human ego self and more with the eternal, indestructible soul aspect of yourself, and then finally, as pure consciousness itself.
  2. As a result of this re-identification, many subtle fears subside, such as the fear of death and what others think of you.
  3. The worries and frustrations of the world release their grip on you and are replaced with a deep sense of well being, a knowing that all is well under the surface, in a “more permanent and true” reality that you could never truly be separate from.
  4. Your mind becomes more easily anchored in the present moment, rather than pulled into the past and future of the mind.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears

There are many teachers these days who help people to awaken: Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, Burt Harding, Gangaji…there are multiple teachers, and each one has their own flavor. One of my favorite teachers of awakening is Leonard Jacobson. He is now living in the Twin Cities metro and is a valuable resource for those on the awakening path. When he is in town and not teaching in another state or country, he gives talks every other Sunday in Wayzata, MN.

I want to share a video below of Leonard teaching which reflects his unique style. It came in a recent newsletter as well as some words that introduce his talk. Please enjoy!

“Leonard begins this talk by emphasizing how simple it is to be present, yet many of us still remain imprisoned within the mind, and lost in the dream. He explains what is necessary for true awakening to occur and reveals how to overcome the resistance of the ego.

Awakening is about liberating yourself from the past and future world of the mind and from endless thoughts that never stop. It is about liberating yourself from the illusion of separation, into the truth of life, which is revealed through this moment.

The only moment that is ever really available to us is this moment.

As you become more grounded in the present moment, everything begins to change – you know the truth is here now; the truth is you, present with what is here in this moment.

When you are present, your mind is silent. There is no conflict, fear or desire. You are just here, present with what is here.”

Surrendering the Dream

This webcast was originally recorded at a live Evening Teaching in La Selva Beach, CA, February 19, 2013 – 71 minutes

Leonard Jacobson’s other topics include

  • The ego will never awaken; good news for the ego
  • Right relationship with difficult feelings
  • Being present as we move through life
  • Bringing consciousness to all the ways we are pulled out of Presence
  • The reasons why many people don’t want to be present
  • The Soul’s deepest longing
  • Getting in touch with your feelings
  • Retreating into silence and re-emerging into the world
  • A new model for awakening
  • You are a Buddha in this moment

Becoming Who We Already Are

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In a recent Edge Magazine, their theme of the month was “How to Awaken to Our Divinity”. Below is the article I wrote that offers a practical approach that many have found helpful. Please enjoy!

“We are on a journey to become what we already are.” These are the words of the modern and local sage, Leonard Jacobson. Another modern sage, Adyashanti, put it another way: “Enlightenment is really just a radical shift in identity.”

We are multi-dimensional beings. We are souls that use and identify as specific bodies. As souls, we all come from the same energy source. At the highest level of our being, there is only Oneness. Hence the teaching of sages is non-dualism.

Those who have spiritually awakened know at the core of their being, without any doubt, that the consciousness that animates them is the same consciousness that animates you, or a cat or a tree. They identify with that consciousness more than they identify with their bodies and the ego mind chatter that goes with it.

The tricky part, however, is that this Truth can only be realized and known without the analytical thinking mind. It is an experience, a knowing that comes only in the present moment when there is a gap between the incessant chatter of the thinking mind, and/or you are identified as the calm, still observer of your thoughts.

The thinking mind is the tool that we as humans use to function in our present reality, but it also keeps us identified with our body. Although our thinking mind is very helpful to live this earth life, it does nothing but hold us back if we decide we want to discover the truth of who we are. That is why people use meditation to quiet the thinking mind. Many health benefits have been measured by quieting the thinking mind….what the Buddha called the source of our suffering.

When you are fully present with a flower, a sunset, a lover, a latte, a pet…there is nothing wrong in that moment. Only when the mind pulls you into the past or the future with worries and concerns, or arguments about how the moment should be different than what it already is, only then is suffering generated. Thus another modern Australian sage nicknamed Sailor Bob said, “What’s wrong with this moment, unless you think about it?”

Yet another present day sage, Byron Katie, says when you go to war with “what is”, you’ll lose every time. If things should be different than what they are, they already would be. This doesn’t mean we can’t change the world or our lives for the better, but change it while anchored in the peace and love of Oneness consciousness, or Christ consciousness, and you’ll notice much more effective results.

Not many people realize that hypnosis can be used as a short-cut to enter a profound state of meditation to quiet the thinking mind, and thus anchor yourself deeply in the present moment. Applying hypnosis to go on an inner spiritual journey, such as with past life regression and life-between-lives, is probably the fastest, most effective way for the average person to tune into and identify with the higher dimensions of themselves, partly because it cannot happen unless you are deeply anchored in the present moment and the brain wave activity has slowed down from beta to alpha and then theta and even delta.

In past life regression, once the thinking mind is quiet, you consciously dis-identify from your present body/mind system and assume a different body/mind…one that drops into you only in the present moment from your subconscious mind. You are shown a life that could be either challenging, amazing, or boring, but it will automatically by default be something that can help you grow and evolve as a soul either by healing an unresolved trauma or by learning and applying wisdom gained from the past life experience.

Eventually the past life comes to an end and you identify with your soul. Thus you are no longer identified with neither your present nor past life self in that moment, but rather the soul consciousness that animates all the lives you’ve lived. During a Life-Between-Lives spiritual journey, you go deeper into the spirit realm, deeper into the present moment and deeper into a higher dimension of yourself…all of these are synonymous.

It is no wonder that as people go further and deeper on their soul’s journey during a Life-Between-Lives session, they feel lighter, freer, and no longer separate from the joy, peace, love and security that the ego personality has long been seeking outside of itself. And as they keep going, they inevitably feel a sense of  “home”,and a stronger interconnection with life. “Home” is a place deep within themselves. No incessant mind chatter is noticed…that part of you becomes silent when tuned into the higher dimensions. In fact, it feels as if it would take effort to apply the thinking mind. All information drops into you as a download of combined thoughts, feelings and senses in the moment.

If you want to experience who you really are, try going on a deep inner journey within yourself to re-identify with the higher aspects of your being. After all, you couldn’t separate yourself from that part of you if you tried…it simply gets covered up in this human experience.    

You Are Love

Reading Time: 2 minutes

This human experience is all about voluntarily being asleep and trying to live a life from the handicap of seemingly being cut off from Source and from our true authentic selves. When the time is right for you as a soul, you begin the spiritual process of awakening to who and what you truly are. Life then begins to make more sense, and subtle anxieties tend to fall away as you realize that earth life is more of a role play for us to experience ourselves in. I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s quote, “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.” A few weeks ago, I posted a blog by one of my favorite teachers of awakening, Adyashanti. I’m going to follow along that same line and share some brief words by another one of my favorite awakened sages who now resides in the Twin Cities area, Leonard Jacobson. Please enjoy his words of truth:
“When you are present, you are love, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

You radiate love in the same way that a candle flame radiates light and it has nothing to do with who or what you love. Humanity has become hopelessly lost in love. We lose ourselves in the object of our love and in the process, we lose ourselves. We disconnect from the source of the love, which exists at the very center of our Being. Then we feel a certain kind of emptiness, because we have moved away from the center. We are afraid of the emptiness, and so we relentlessly pursue love outside of ourselves. We want to be loved. We fall in love. We lose ourselves in the object of the love, which takes us further from the center. Eventually, we become so lost in the pursuit of love and all the hope, pain, fear and attachments associated with it, that we can no longer be present. And if we cannot be present, we cannot find our way back to the source of the love, which is at the very center within us.

The truth is that if you love anyone or anything, it simply means that you are love. The one you are loving in the moment might be lovable, but the source of the love is always within you. If another loves you, do not take it too personally. It simply means that the other is love. If I am present and I am love, and you are present and you are love, then why do I need you to love me? Why do you need me to love you? The truth is that we do not need to be loved, for if we are present, we are love. So let us hold hands, and gaze together upon this wondrous world with love.

Love everything. Love the dogs. Love the children. Love the trees. Love your wife or husband. But remember it is because you are love.”

The Awakened Way

Reading Time: 5 minutesThis earth life offers each of us precise opportunities to grow and evolve to our next level. It is happening whether we are awake to it or not. All the while, there is one master soul lesson, and that is to awaken to our truest and highest nature. One can find many people who are awakening these days if you look for them (hint: check out www.batgap.com). It reminds me of a quote by one enlightened woman, Neelam: “First things first…first awaken to who and what you are, then see if your problems still make any sense.”  Awakening is simply realizing and identifying with the part of you that never comes and goes, that’s always here and now, no matter what spiritual dimension you are on or physical life you are in. One of my favorite teachers of awakening, Adyashanti, says that this realization begins first in the head, then drops into the heart, and finally the gut and you fully know it because you are it. I am sharing with you an answer that was posed to Adyashanti about awakening. Please enjoy reading his response:

What is it like to live an awakened life?

“While the world is trying to solve its problems and everyone around you is engaged in the same, you’re not. While everybody around you is trying to figure it out, trying to arrive, trying to “get there,” trying to be worthy, you’re not. While everyone thinks that awakening is a grand, noble, halo-enshrouded thing, for you it’s not. While everybody is running from this life right now, in this moment, to try to get there, you’re not. Where everybody has an argument with somebody else, mostly everybody else, starting with themselves, you don’t. Where everybody is so sure that happiness will come when something is different than it is now, you know that it won’t. When everybody else is looking to achieve the perfect state and hold on to it, you’re not.

When everybody around you has a whole host of ideas and beliefs about a whole variety of things, you don’t. Everyone on the path is getting there; you haven’t gotten anywhere. Everyone is climbing the mountain; you’re selling hiking boots and picks at the foot in the hope that if they climb it and come back down, they may be too exhausted to do it again. When everybody else is looking to the next book, to the next teacher, to the next guru to be told what’s real, to be given the secret key to an awakened life, you’re not. You don’t have a key because there’s not a lock to put it in.

When you’re living what you are in an awakened way, being simply what you’ve always been, you’re actually very simple. You basically sit around wondering what all the fuss is about.

When everyone is sitting around saying, “I hope that happens to me,” you remember when you did that. You remember that you didn’t find a solution to that. You remember that the whole idea that there was a problem created all of that.

When you’re being what you are, when you’re living the awakened life, there’s nobody to forgive, because there’s no resentment held, no matter what.

The truth of your being doesn’t crave happiness; it could actually care less. It doesn’t crave love, not because you are so full of love, but because it just doesn’t crave love. It’s very simple. It doesn’t seek to be known, regarded highly, or understood. When you’re living what you are in an awakened way, there’s no ideal for you anymore. You’ve stepped off the entire cycle of suffering, of becoming; you’re not interested.

It’s a curious life you find yourself in. You find yourself… where you are. Not where I am, where you are. Where you really are. Where we really are. It’s a curious place to be (especially in the beginning) not to be driven by anything—pleasure or displeasure, helping or hurting, loving or hating. The only thing that will move you (and I don’t mean to be too poetic about this) is the same thing that moves a leaf hanging from a tree. It’s simply because the breeze blows that way. So you always know what to do: The breeze blows that way, and that’s the way you go. You don’t ask questions anymore. You don’t evaluate why the breeze is blowing that way because you know that you don’t know why. And you know you can’t know why. There’s never been a leaf anywhere that knows why the wind blows that way on that day at that moment. That breeze changes the orientation of your life, moment to moment to moment, simply because that’s the way life’s moving. And when you’re living in your awakened self you have no argument with the way it’s moving because it is the same as you are.

And you know that the breeze was always there, from the very beginning, and that it wasn’t reserved for special people. If you didn’t notice it at some point in your life, you know it was because you weren’t listening, or because you thought you had to figure something out before you could listen, or because you thought there had to be some conclusion before you could just listen so deeply, so without agenda, so without hope of a better future that you would feel the movement.

Many of you know what I’m speaking of.

Truth never explains why it’s moving that way at that moment. And if you ask, it won’t give any information. It would be like a leaf asking the wind, “Why are you moving that way right now?” The question doesn’t make any sense to the wind.

But your argument with the way the truth would move—whatever that way is—is no longer there for you. You’re no longer arguing with it. You’re no longer trying to figure it out. Mother Mary didn’t figure it out. Buddha didn’t figure it out. Ramana didn’t figure it out. None of them figured it out. They just became That. Simple. Ordinary—in the same way a leaf is ordinary.

When you’re living in your awakened being and living in an awakened way, power on any level is not an issue for you. It’s not interesting. The power to control another human being is not interesting. Intellectual power is not interesting. The power to control yourself is not interesting. The power that people want to give you is not interesting to you—not because it shouldn’t be; it’s just not. What would you want to do with it? You see that there’s nothing you want to do with it.

You realize, in the truth of your being, that you are the totality itself, but you have no interest whatsoever in doing anything with that knowledge, with using that knowledge.

Finally, you realize that you really don’t want to change anybody, not because you shouldn’t want to change them, because you just don’t. You might not want to be around everyone, but still you don’t want to change them.

None of this is an ideal—it’s the end of ideals. None of this is holiness; it’s the end of holiness. It’s the beginning of wholeness. None of this is something to achieve, because it’s not achievable. It’s simply what is in the truth of your being. It’s just what is. You can’t attain what’s naturally so. And nobody anywhere can ever tell you when or why, or to what degree you’ll let go of untruth; you will let go when you let go, usually when nothing else works.

When you’re living in the awakened way, in the awakened being that you are, you’re alone, and you’re finally comfortable with it. You’re alone, but you’re not lonely at all, because the only one who was ever supposed to meet you where you are—the only one who ever could meet you where you are one hundred percent—was you. Nobody else could ever fully meet you where you are—maybe ninety percent, maybe ninety-five. Nobody can meet you fully but you. When you finally do, then you don’t need anybody else to do it for you. Then you’re alone, more alone than you could ever imagine. And strangely—very strangely—you are more connected, more intimate, more at one with everything. More. And you would have never thought that those two could in any way be together: total aloneness and total oneness. You would have never guessed that that’s the way it would end up. But it does, and it always has.

And finally, when you’re just living in the awakened way that you really are, you’ll never form an image again of what it’s like. Even as it’s happening, you won’t form an image because you’ll know they’re all images, dust. The way it was yesterday won’t be the way it is today.”

What Must I Do To Awaken?

Reading Time: 3 minutesSages will answer this question differently, such as “there’s nothing you can do to awaken” or “the ‘you’ that’s trying to awaken isn’t what awakens.” The following is an answer from Leonard Jacobson. Leonard is an awakened teacher who has been sharing his simple and direct way of awakening for the past 35 years. His book, Journey Into Now, is one of my favorites. Below is an answer that exemplifies much of the core of his teaching. Enjoy!

Question:

What must I do, what must happen, for me to AWAKEN and be free? How do I do this? Where is the moment from asleep to awake?

Answer:

To live an awakened life requires a deep intention on your part to be present. Every moment you have the choice. Will you choose to be present with what is actually here now, or will you choose to be in the world of the thinking mind, which is an illusory world of thought, memory and imagination. The choice is yours. It is up to you and no one else. No guru can help you. Spiritual practices will ultimately fail. The present moment is always available. It never withdraws and it never gives up on you. It constantly re-presents itself to you. In truth it never goes away. But you have to choose it.

The more you choose Presence, the more grounded you will become in the truth and reality of the present moment. The more grounded you are in the truth and reality of the present moment, the more you will experience the sacred and the divine in those ordinary moments. If your commitment is to being present, then there will come a time when being present becomes your natural state. The present moment becomes your home and you will have short excursions into the world of the mind, but you never go so far into the mind that you will get lost.

Everything that occurs within the world of the mind is of the remembered past or imagined future. None of it is happening now. If you become identified with your thoughts, memories or imaginings, then you take yourself out of the present moment. You take yourself into an illusory world and deprive yourself of the true life, which can only be lived in this moment.

If there are any wounds or limiting patterns or beliefs from the past, which are preventing you from moving into the present moment, then they will begin to surface and it is up to you to bring them into the full light of consciousness, so that healing and release can occur within an environment of unconditional love and acceptance.

If you are still having difficulty choosing to be present, then we will have to examine more closely what your ego is up to. What is it so desperately trying to hold on to? What is it afraid of? What are its tricks and strategies to keep you in its world of the past and future? All of these things will have to be brought to the light of consciousness.

A complete absence of judgment is one of the principal keys to awakening. Examine judgment in your life. It can be very subtle.

You ask where is the moment from asleep to awake. There is only one possible answer. Here!!! Now!!! Where else can you awaken but here? And when, if not now?

Remember that in truth, there is nothing but the present moment. In truth, you can never be anywhere else. The experience of being somewhere other than in the present moment is nothing more than an illusion which is created when you enter the world of the mind, and become identified with the story that is unfolding there.

In a way, it is artificial to imagine that you can awaken in any kind of permanent way. Even permanence is an illusion. There is only NOW. And so the question that constantly arises is “Am I awake and fully present NOW? And of course, that question arises and is answered in perfect silence.

Awakening is the simplest thing in the world. It feels so much better to be present rather than in the world of the mind. The present moment is the doorway to God. The present moment IS God. Why doesn’t everyone choose it?

What Is Enlightenment?

Reading Time: 7 minutesI would like to share an article by Neile Donald Walsch, author of the ‘Conversation With God’ series. He has a way of articulating deep concepts and ideas in a simple manner. I enjoyed his thoughts on Enlightenment and I hope you do as well! Here’s Neile:

 

Let’s talk about Enlightenment—that elusive magical mystical experience for which many people seem to be searching.

We have not only been search-ing for Enlightenment, we have been searching as well for a definition of Enlightenment, because we know intuitively that we can’t get to that destination until we know where we are going.

And so the first step for most human beings has been to try to define what Enlightenment is, or what it looks like, or feels like, or what it is like to experience that.

As we look around us in this world we see that many “Paths to Enlightenment” have been suggested, recommended, created, expressed, experienced, shared, and put into the space of our collective lives.

The Buddha said that he knew a way to Enlightenment. Bahá’u’lláh said that he knew a way. More contemporarily, Paramahansa Yogananda said that he knew a way to Enlightenment.

Yogananda taught in the West from 1920 until his death in 1952. He published his life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, in 1946. and created the Self-Realization Fellowship.

When Yogananda, or Master, as he was called, came to America he brought a technique for “self-realization,” which was his phrase meaning Enlightenment.

“When you realize who the Self is,” he said, “you become enlightened.”

You are more aware. You are more at peace with the world. You are internally serene, totally content, and thus, wonderfully empowered . . . in a quiet, gentle sort of way . . . to move through life, to experience Divine Presence in you, as you.

Yet how can we arrive at this place of Self Realization?

Well…God says, “No one calls to me who is not answered.” And I believe that each of us will be answered by that which we call Divine, in the way which most effectively responds to the vibration that we hold and create from the center of our being.

For Paramahansa Yogananda, the way was, chiefly, meditation. But God says that God, or Divinity, or Enlightenment, if you please, appears in the lives of every person in a form that is most appropriate to their background, their culture, the level of their desire, and their willingness.

So there are many disciplines: physical disciplines, mental disciplines, spiritual disciplines, and some disciplines that involve all three — the body, the mind and the spirit.

We spoke of The Buddha earlier. One day Siddhartha Gautama — the man who came to be called “Buddha” — said:

“I’ve tried everything. I’ve done all the physical discipline, all the training, all the exercise, all the starvation, all the diets, all the fasting, and all the meditation. Now I’m just going to sit here beneath this tree and I’m not getting up until I’m Enlightened.”

And there he sat, doing nothing. No exercises, no meditations, no fasting, no nothing – – just sitting there doing absolutely nothing.

Now that is hard for many of us to do, because we think there is something we are suppose to be doing in order to be Enlightened.

Suddenly Siddhartha said with a start: “I’m Enlightened.” And people came to him and cried out, “What did you do? What did you do? Teach us, Master! You have become the Buddha, the Enlightened One. What is the secret? What did you do?”

And the Buddha said something quite extraordinary, which I paraphrase here: “There is nothing that you have to be, do, or have. Simply BE what you have always been . . . and don’t deny it.”

Imagine. After all that time. After the life he had lived and all that he did and saw. After all the luxury and then all the self-denial, after wearing a silk shirt and then a hair-shirt, after thoroughly satisfying his body and then starving his body, after no spiritual or physical discipline and then tons of discipline…after all that time, he realized it was not about doing or having anything, and it was not about not doing or having anything. It was about the middle way.

It was about just living life, non-attached to anything in partic-cular. Not attached to your luxuries and joys, and not attached to your poverty and tragedies. It was not about any of that.

It can be if you want it to be. It can be if that is what suits you. It can be if that is your path, but it is not necessary to be, do, or have anything in particular.

The Buddha said, in effect, “I’m Enlightened because I have realized that Enlightenment is knowing that there is nothing you have to do to be Enlightened. Just be your True Self.”

Isn’t that interesting? Think of all the effort that people are putting in, with years-long programs and trainings, only to find out that Enlightenment requires nothing at all — except letting go of what you are not.

What you are not is anything that is not Love.

I hate to be so simplistic here, so predictable, but Who You Are is Divinity, physically expressed — and what Divinity is . . . is Love.

If you simply love everyone whose life you touch endlessly, unconditionally, with nothing needed or wanted in return (what can God possibly need in return?), you have become Enlightened, you have achieved Awareness. AND . . . you have shown everyone else how they may do so as well — as fast as any other mental system or spiritual discipline that exists, like that.

As fast as Transcendental Meditation, like that. As fast as joining the Self-Realization Fellowship, like that. As fast as taking est, like that. As fast as Brain Education and Dahn Hak and Vibrational Attunement and any other process or mechanism or path you can name.

And if you learn to love yourself unconditionally, as well as everyone else, you will heal your entire self without lifting a finger.

Now I want to discuss this thing called health, because many people believe that you are not enlightened unless you are in good health.

Does Enlightenment mean being in good health? And what is “good health” anyway? Is good health having a body that has nothing wrong with it? Is good health living until you are 90 or 100 or 200 or 500? ?

Ernest Holmes was the founder of Religious Science, and wrote a book called The Science of Mind. He was said to have found the way to create a perfect and wonderful life. Yet he lived only until he was 73. Why did he not live longer, if he was so spiritually “healthy” and aware? Half the people that I know have lived longer!

Is Enlightenment, and “good health”, having no pain and nothing malfunctioning with your physical form? Is good health the absence of anything that is not perfect in your physical experience?

Or — now listen to this carefully — is good health being very okay and in a place of joy and peace no matter how things are?

What is health, what is optimum health, if it is not happiness?

I know people who exercise every day, lifting weights and running and working out, eating well, doing all the right things, and their bodies are in great health, but their hearts and their minds and their souls are very ill and desperately sad. They are incomplete, unfulfilled, unexpressed, and deeply unhappy.

And I know people who are hardly able to lift a toothpick, their bodies are in such bad shape . . . but their hearts and their minds and their souls are bright as a shining star, and they are happy.

I know such a man, whose name is Ram Dass. Do you know of whom I speak? Ram Dass is a Master, and I was vastly privileged to have met him personally. He has taught many people for many years. He wrote a book called Be Here Now, among others.

A number of years ago now, Ram Dass had a stroke. He was a young man; he was only 63 or something like that. I met with Ram Dass after his stroke, in a hotel room in Denver, and I want to tell you something. I’ve never met a healthier man.

I sat in that room with a Master. I said, “Ram Dass, how are you?” And he sat there in his wheelchair and said very slowly and very carefully, “I am won-der-ful.”

He had to pronounce each syllable as if it was a separate word. His mouth, his tongue, couldn’t work any faster than that. But he looked at me and smiled and said, “I-am-won-der-ful.”

Now that’s health…that’s health. That’s peace. That’s joy. And I cried. Not for Ram Dass. Who would cry for a person who said something like that? I cried for myself.

How could I have missed it? How could I have walked right past this wisdom for so many years?

In the end,. We came here to understand Who We Are, and to experience it.

We did not come here to somehow “get better” or to “work on our stuff.” Consider the possibility that all the work you will ever need to do is finished. All you have to do now is demonstrate that. Ernest Holmes left when he left because he had demonstrated what he came here to demonstrate.

So this moment is the moment of your liberation. You can be liberated from your life-long search for Enlightenment. You can be released from any thought that it has to look like this…no, no, it has to look like that, no, no, you have to get to it by this path, by that program, by the other process or activity.

If Enlightenment is outer joy and inner peace, outer ease and inner tranquility, outer consciousness and inner awareness, and you are experiencing that — then you have found Enlightenment.

So set yourself free today. Stop working so hard on yourself that you don’t even enjoy it anymore. Do what works for you, but make sure it brings you joy.

Enlightenment is EnJOYment. It is the pouring of pure joy into Life.

Now here is what I know will bring you joy. Decide that the rest of your life — every day, every moment, every word — is something that you will share with everyone whose life you touch in a way that ensures that they will know there is nothing they have to do, nowhere they have to go, and no way they have to be, in order to be loved by you right now.

Let them know that they are perfect just as they are, just as they are standing there.

Spend the rest of your life giving people back to themselves, that they might love themselves, and know that there is nothing they are lacking, nothing they are missing, nothing they need, nothing they are not.

It has been said that the other is your mirror, and you will see there naught but what you see in yourself. Yet I tell you this. Do not wait to see yourself as perfect before you see The Other as perfect. See The Other as perfect first . . . then you will see perfection in yourself.

Forgive the other first, then you will forgive yourself at last. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you. This is the Law and the Prophets.

For there IS no Other, save You. And when you know this, you save you. You become . . . your Saviour.

What I am talking about here is simply sharing love, which is who you really are. And if you learn and choose and decide to share love — endlessly, unconditionally — with everyone, you will find that there is nothing else to do to seek Enlightenment. You will have achieved it.

So, with that as our determination and that as our choice and that as our decision, let us join together and experience our own ‘Enlightenment’.