“Because we have moved decisively from what we called “globalization” into a new era of global inter-connectedness, where not just goods but information and ideas flow across borders constantly…”

“poverty is receding at a rate unsurpassed in history; and the power of
the emerging dreamers, thinkers, tinkerers and innovators worldwide
have only just now begun to transform our world.”

From the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of the New York Times.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/25/opinion/edamelio.php

Tomorrow, I begin moving to a new city. Later next week, I’ll be going on a retreat on the prairies, followed by a silent retreat near home. I’m looking forward to the time out.

Unlike Tom, I’ll be off-line frequently until close to the end of the month. Neither technology nor circumstance support much reporting. Indeed, both retreats will be primarily a conversation with Self.

We’ll see how inspiration arises.

Enjoy the summer!

Davidya

This is in response to a comment by Louis over on “How i learned to stop…” She was uncertain about awakening…

As you approach awakening, you can become uncertain if you are awake or not. The Self seems awake inside and there can be a sense “I am that”, but one also notices the person is still there. Some days, it can seem clear, others less so.

Another feature of closing on awakening is the witness. The awakening soul. The soul or jiva awakes within and becomes the observer or witness at all times, even in deep sleep. Suzanne describes this in “Collision with the Infinite”, mentioned on “It Can be Easier“. Note that she is also experiencing a great deal of ego fear. More typically, this is an experience of profound peace, with some brief periods of purification.

When we truly awaken, the ego is seen through and “dies” or is forgotten. It’s not uncommon for the ego to see it’s approaching doom more clearly than we do. It thus can get into all sorts of tricks. Pretending to be the Self. Or Suzanne’s panic and fear. I’ve seen a couple of people suddenly balk at the whole thing and abandon the path. This is due to our identification with the ego - it makes more noise so we tend to listen to it more than we should.

I’ve also seen a few people declare themselves “Enlightened” and begin their preaching. Whats been called “premature immaculation”.

Often, the last barrier to awakening is our ideas of what awakening is. Because we hold to certain expectations, we resist anything that may get in the way of that. Same as all other suffering.

Awakening can be sudden or gradual but there is always a distinct shift, a point at which we step out of the illusion/ loose the ego/ change from being the person to the observer. For some, this change is quite distinct. For people long on the path, it can be less distinct as it is already familiar. But you may notice things like there being no transcendent to transcend to in meditation - you are already there. It shifts to a time of deeper silence rather than touching silence. If you are to ask where you “are”, you will find its not inside the body anymore. Much more non-local.

When you reach a place of such transition, your understanding can help but it can be invaluable not to waste time in doubt or confusion. A suitable Teacher can help with clarity. At some point, you will reach your own certainty.

Don’t see this as the goal or end of the journey. Indeed, when you awaken, you will discover it’s just the beginning of a whole new adventure. Abiding peace, happiness, and freedom are fine things. But there is much more.

Davidya

I’m struck by how many of the awakening experiences I’ve recently read that were filled with deep challenges. The link to an interview with Byron Katie over at Suffering is Optional, for example. It lead me to Suzanne Segal’s excerpt from her book “Collision with the Infinite“.

What is more notable here is that she had some framework for understanding her experience but rejected it out of hand. This is the trickster, the ego at it’s finest. The ego does not fear death of the body. It can last past that. What it fears deeply is loss of itself, threats to it’s own continued existence. That was the seat of her fear, the loss of identity. Adyashanti calls this the BBQ. Many people struggle with the final letting go. As Adya observes, some who awaken struggle for a little while afterwards as well. Even though the ego has “died” - really its simply an idea that is seen through - there is what I call ego shrapnel, remaining habits of mind that must also be seen through.

It illustrates the value of access to decent teachings. And also of doing the work in advance of waking. All of this makes the whole process much smoother. As I mention in 10 Steps to Enlightenment, there are 10 steps or aspects to the process. Anything we skip along the way is something we just have to deal with later. There may not always seem to be value to the practice. Or there may seem to be an awfully big onion to peel.

In the end though, all we are doing is preparing. It is not the individual who awakes. The individual cannot even conceive it. It is beyond mind. We simply prepare the ground as best we can to allow the Self when the Self comes knocking.

It’s doing a lot of knocking these days.

Davidya

This column on Homes is about Vastu, the Indian version of Feng Shui. While similar in intent, it varies somewhat in detail, partly because of the where the science of energy flow was developed on the globe. In current practice, Vastu tends to be more focused on the design and placement of the home itself, Feng Shui on the optimum placement of items within. Some think Vastu or Sthapatya Veda, from the books where it is written, pre-dates Feng Shui.

In case you think it somehow old fashioned, the house pictured at the lead of the article has a helicopter garage. The owner lives on an island and commutes to the mainland.

http://www.shared-vision.com/home-vision/a-room-with-vastu

The article leads to further resources on the subject.

Davidya

The above is the subtitle to a short article by Byron Katie in the latest Shared Vision magazine. The article is called “Suffering is Optional“.

“What I came to see was that my suffering wasn’t a result of not having control; it was a result of arguing with reality. I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment.”

“The apparent craziness of the world, like everything else, is a gift we can use to set our minds free.”

“When you question what you believe, you eventually come to see you’re the enlightenment you’ve been seeking. Until you can love what is—everything, including the apparent violence and craziness—you’re separate from the world, and you’ll see it as dangerous and frightening.”

The rest of the article is here:

http://www.shared-vision.com/sv-features/20080601/suffering-is-optional

Byron Katie had an awakening in a halfway house for eating disorders, not unlike Satyam Nadeen’s prison waking. Like Eckhart Tolle, she does not know how she came to awaken at that point, but a process became apparent to help others awake. From my perspective, I prefer a practice with a framework for growth. This is much easier than an accidental awakening brought on by peak suffering. But I still find value in learning of the myraid ways the Self finds to open to Itself.

An interview with Katie (a nickname for her middle name)

Davidya

Back in Socionomics, I touched on the idea that the public mood precedes market and political change, not the other way around. It is the awareness of the population and its group intention that precipitates change, not change that shifts public mood as is typically thought.

The notable thing is that the mood follows a distinct pattern, one found throughout nature. From the proportions of your hand to the petals on a daisy. It’s known as the Fibonacci Sequence which follows a ratio known as the golden mean or divine proportion.

The following article explores this relationship, revealed by the stock market as a model of human social mood. “... the valuation of mankind’s productive enterprise through history follows a progression/regression pattern that is typical of processes in nature that display patterned growth.” “The fact that price changes are patterned proves that the collective’s net valuations are not reasoned, but it also shows that they are not random, either.“

The Human Social Experience Forms a Fractal, from the The Colours of Infinity, with Arthur C. Clarke

The Colours of Infinity documentary is posted on YouTube in 6 parts. “Arthur C. Clarke presents this unusual documentary…on the Mandelbrot Set in the visually spectacular world of fractal geometry… that seems to identify the hand of God in the design of the universe itself.“

We live immersed in a sea of intelligence that bursts forth all around us.

Davidya

The Top Ten Tenets for Creative Living
1) Take responsibility for your internal experience
2) Follow your Internal Guidance and express your personal brilliance
3) Manifest your world consciously and with intent
4) Create your personal vision of paradise and spread it among those you love
5) Create community and hold it as a necessary foundation of our future
6) Be grateful for all your experiences and all that is
7) Release attachment including being attached to non-attachment
8 See simplicity as the core of sacred living
9) Express unconditional love
10) Look for the universal Oneness in your life

The full details are on the IONS site at
http://www.shiftinaction.com/node/7191

Take note of the origins of this list at the bottom.
Davidya

For many of us, relationship is about meeting needs. Finding someone willing to love us, offer companionship and sex. Perhaps support for a family. In response, we reciprocate with what we think the other needs, often a mirror of our own needs.

Sometimes there can be disconnects between expectations and understanding. Communication is paramount, but also a compatibility of needs. Trouble is, peoples needs change. If we identify ourselves with
our idea of what the relationship is, a changing partner appears to be breaking an unwritten promise. If trust is lost, the capacity of the relationship to deepen goes with it.

Relationship has a kind of synergy. A blend of the interactions and energy of the 2 together. It’s like an entity in itself. As each party to the energy changes, so too does the blend.

As one awakens, there is a falling away of attachments to our idea of the other person. We slowly loose the unwritten list of expectations. While our karmic obligations do not depart, our tendency to cycle them yet again begins to end. We step off the wheel of relationship debt.

We gradually loose any sense of identity with what is around us, including our relationships. Our world no longer defines us. This can have a considerable effect on existing relationships. The motivation of needs becomes much less. One may seem to no longer care. But this is just a transitional step. As the barriers of individual fall away, the higher values of the heart begin to kick in. Relationship shifts from being needs based to sharing and connection. The dawning of true compassion and connection.

The awake can find their sense of awakeness is strengthened around some others awake. The story of life is changing, so it can become exciting to share the adventure, the gradually revealing secrets of what is.

The heart seeks to flow, so having a form to flow to can become important. For some, this may take the form of a personal God.  Others will find such a vehicle in relationship. If the partner is willing to allow this, a profound flow can arise in the context of relationship. A flow of love that is the direct flow of God. There is no longer a need for a vehicle to love, but a form serves to allow flow.

Many years ago, a teacher described how the very awake keep some hint of ignorance, some separation in the One to allow for the flow from master to student. In complete Oneness, the process of experience collapses, experiencer merges with the experienced, the observer with the observed. For the flow to happen, there has to be some slight duality so that the process of observation can take place.

What is the process of observation? Look around you. Everything you experience is because of the process of observation. The movement of awareness. And that movement of awareness is love. The celebration of the recognition of being.

That is the ultimate relationship, of the One with Itself. That is the flow of pure love. And that is why you are here. You are a relationship with Oneness.

Davidya

The world is change
nothing lasts
not home, not love, not life.

We desire more
but loose it all, always

Happiness cannot be found
in what ends

But do not fear.
There is an end to pain
and misery
An end that does not end

We cannot find this end
any where
or any when

in change is only change
Change never ends
There is no end of change

look deeper
within change itself

the flow of change
reveals the medium of movement
the movement continues…

What moves?
Consciousness
Consciousness moves within itself

That movement is love,
it is happiness,
it is you.

You are the end
and the beginning
you are the change that does not end
.

Davidya