LLL Retreat 5

I’m back. But not really. As is not uncommon, the person who arrived back was not the same person who left. There was a deep enough perspective shift that reality has once again changed. (laughs) And is in the process of going further.

As Lorne suggested, there are states of consciousness. And then within each state are levels of awareness, a progression of clarity and alertness. For example, in waking state, we can have days where we feel lonely and separate. Days where we feel foggy and dull. And days where we feel alive and full. After a spiritual awakening, there can be an uncertainty, a deep clarity and peace, perhaps a struggle with mind, and then the dawn of sat chit ananda, absolute bliss. Yet even that is only the foundation of what follows in higher states. And how it unfolds varies widely by person.

Like the last retreat I spoke of, there are no main points to describe. There was rather a conversation of Self with Itself. Kind of like an advanced version of the conference calls. This one was particularly potent. The love was palpable in the group. The richness sublime. The experiences profound. Because of the mix of the group, the conversations were startling in their depth.

The mind has not yet caught up with the shift underway. I continue to be surprised by the depth of what is there to unfold. And the yet deeper vistas that are revealed. Such a remarkable journey we’re on.
Davidya

(5 as this was the 5th I’ve been on)

Smile…

Bodhisattva on the metro

Up, Up and Away!

Off to the airport shortly. The blog will be silent until next week sometime.
Have fun!
D

Retreating

The Impact of Teaching

If we’re on some kind of spiritual journey, the value of a teaching cannot be underestimated. It can help us walk the path effectively, avoid side-roads, and keep on track – especially in a world ruled by the story of the ego. It will not mean the difference between waking up and not though. Just how smooth and quick the journey is.

Some will simply wake ‘spontaneously’, without a teaching or seeking. And it’s quite likely that these will increase as global consciousness rises. Already, young people are waking without the more common decades of the boomer seekers.

For most of us now though, there is a journey to take. What a teaching does is frame the journey and satisfy the mind. Offer confirmation and clarity. In the end though, we have to let go of any and all ideas and simply be. Surrender even the most exalted teachings.

Not to worry. When you let it go, then come back to it from a higher perspective, the higher teachings will remain valid. Just seen anew. ‘We are one’ becomes increasingly true at ever more profound values. ‘Creativity requires suffering’ does not.

If a teaching you follow is full of keeners that tell you this is the only way, they are themselves caught in a trap. No teaching is really “a way” in itself. And if everything is One, how can there only be one way? Even worse if the teacher themselves says this. (Jesus said in essence ‘I am That’, not ‘I am the only way’. Through me/That you shall know God.)

What is notable to see is how a teaching and it’s terminology can frame our experience. For example, when we begin to have transcendental experiences of silence, we may come to call that no-self, Self, space, fullness, emptiness, or oneness.

There will be the impulse to use the word that best matches our actual experience, but even the terminology itself will inform that. For example, if we think of it as emptiness and no-self, it will take a very strong experience of fullness before we consider framing our reality differently.

The language doesn’t matter though – it is only the colouring. But it points to the subtle value of a quality, open teaching where one is encouraged to find out for themselves but offers a time tested framework to build on.

There will always be keeners and absolutists because we all have things we believe. One of the most potent absolutists on the journey is ourselves. When we are convinced of a ‘truth’ or belief, we will see everything from how it aligns with our understanding. This is our story of our journey. The me that is wanting to awaken. Until something comes along to knock our conceptual framework off-kilter. The teacher, the challenge, the experience that’s gives us a perspective change.

This is one of the reasons I harp on perspective so much. First to see that we have one and that it informs our understanding of what is. And secondly to see that there is no one “right” perspective but rather a series of ways of seeing what is on the journey into wholeness.

No matter what our understanding or how deep our teaching, reality will never be what you expect or understand. That’s one of the ways you know it’s real. (laughs)
Davidya

Shock and Awe

Shock and Awe is a term used by the military for the use of overwhelming force. A raw expression of power designed to culture fear. It can be quite potent but not always in the way intended. It’s a great way to produce exponential values of karma. The more powerful the energy, the more it affects, the more reflects back in the balancing.

Bad energy experiences are a really interesting way to learn the importance of the way you’re using your energy and how that effects those around you. By energy, what I mean here is the feeling values. The emotions attached to your thoughts and actions. It’s less about what you’re saying and more about the emotional load you add to the words. Some people vent very overtly but some more subtly with more power.

It’s like learning empathy. It’s hard to understand what it feels like until you experience it yourself. Once you’ve been dumped on enough, you learn to avoid it. But if dumpers keep showing up, it may be useful to be more mindful of your own emotional dynamics. Do you process stuff in healthy ways? Or do you spew on your friends and loved ones? How do you feel? And what are you doing with those feelings?

Of course, this is not about perfection. Just awareness. Being mindful of what you are offering the world.

Empathy is not only good for your emotional health, it helps with quality of life as you don’t get so much ‘blow-back’.

Understanding this process is more important than you might think. Unprocessed shock and fear is the seeds of the shadow story, the time cycles of the fall of consciousness, the origins of ego and suffering, of what the Bible calls fallen angels.

Energy is life. How is the energy flowing? What are you feeding?
Davidya