before....before...what? .... I die? It seems so silly now that I think about it, rushing to get to here-now...ha! Speaking to my older friends who are in their 40's, 50's, and 60's, they all seem to saying the same thing in different words, slow down. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken my time.” So where does this rushing come from? Why this need to get there and accomplish that? Is it the spryness of youthful energy that propels me forward, or perhaps the subconscious/conscious awareness that I am going to die one day, some day? Does it really matter that I go, do, and see all? And if so, to what end? Is it to fulfill this insatiable desire to eventually experience what it feels like to be whole and complete within myself? What does that actually mean, and is there such a thing?
Yoga, and life- really, have taught me and continue to teach me that I am already whole, complete, and perfect, HERE-NOW! So, where and when along this journey of life do we finally decide to let go and let God? Is it in the sweet surrender of wisdom that comes with age and experience? We have a choice, at any age, to decide how we are going to live our lives. We manifest the meaning in our lives, we are the authors; the creators of our past, present, and future. And so, here I am, and I am choosing to slow down. I am choosing to learn from the wisdom of my elders and take a freaking chill pill! I have created the rush, I have created the mind altering panic of “futureness”...the doubts, the fear of the unknown, the pushing to be....something....something more, or different than what I am here, now. I have created this non-sense, because I am the author of this story, my story, and I am choosing in this here- now to not. To not be in such a rush and to choose presence over ego-mind controlled concern. I am creating for myself the possibility that there is no unknown when we are truly present, for in the moment, it will be known! This is nothing new. I have not discovered these concepts for the first time. This is ancient wisdom, and I have humbly stumbled upon it.
And so, we be. I be. I am. I am that I am.
Vipassana (http://www.dhamma.org/) meditation has taught me (or rather, helped me to remember) SO many things. One of which is the invaluable lesson of direct experience. The teachings offer this as a means of obtaining being-ness...
The Three ways of knowing:
1) Reading/ or doing research.
2) Someone else telling you about their direct experience.
3) Or through your own direct personal experience.
In knowing from direct personal experience, the knowing becomes wisdom, and wisdom leads us to being more whole and complete in this here-now. The knowing becomes wisdom, if we get the lesson, so get it! I am choosing to learn from other peoples personal experience of time slowing down in order to learn in my own direct experience what it means to fully surrender and no longer seek, though rather to be found. I am heeding my friends words, taking my spirit surf board, and riding the waves.
I have come to understand that there is nothing so ephemeral as emotions. I realize now that when I am down I may as well rejoice knowing that the only place to go is up. I understand that when I am high, surfing the magic wave of joy, to experience this state with the wisdom that sooner or later, I will be again reminded that all is changing. Constantly changing....breath, and things will change. And so, now, here I am, here we are. We Are. We are moving through this life, riding these waves of life, juntos. Together we communicate our experiences so that we may grow unified. Unity Consciousness! This is how I am now gaining the the wisdom of my elders to take it easy and Cheeeeeelll! Our words have power! We made them up to relay our experience here on this earth so that we may be able to better communicate our truths and observations about this life and beyond. Beautifully so, we (unity consciousness) have labeled ourselves HUMANS BEING. Humans being. HUMANS BE-ING. Be-ing .... this says it all, be-ing with an -ing denotes an action. Though how do I be? In my humble experience it is through active participation, through focused attention.
Focused attention takes effort! At times, I forget my essence, my source, my connection to my being-ness. And yet, I am 100% responsible for this illusion state. What a game I have decided to play with my 'self'. A distinction can be made between Self, capital S, and self, lower case s. When I refer to the Self, I am talking about the “higher Self”, that which is, has been, and will forever be connected to our source. The 'self' refers to the ego-mind which is held within the confines of our mortal bodies. I feel that I am source embodied, and I imagine embodiment went something like this:
(tuning in to a conversation between Self and self in the spirit realm)
Self: "AAAAUUUUUMMMMM....'I am' would like a human experience. Let us become embodied. self, let's spice it up a bit...you will have to remember just how great you are while you are down there experiencing humanness. If you forget just how amazingly whole and complete you are, you will learn more about our source.”
self: "Though Self, how will we learn to remember just how awesome and benevolent we are?"
Self: "Ahhh.....beloved self, trust in the present, for it truly is the gift."
- ***LOUD BUZZING BOOM***and BAM...SPIRIT EMBODIED***
++++++gotta love onomatopoeia ;D+++++++
There is a saying, “it is the fool who goes around saying that he is enlightened, and it is the enlightened one who says that he is a fool”. I resonate deeply with the wisdom of this saying. For to be enlightened one must be in a state of remembrance that there is nothing, no-thing. No thing to hold on to, and everything to let be. Fool might be defined as one who is “mentally deficient in judgment or sense”, these things judgment and sense, they are our mental confines. The fool is free from thought, free from past and future, free to be. And so, I choose love, I choose to embrace my foolish no-mind state. And from this place of no mind, no-thing, I can create EVERYTHING!
No need to rush. All of the universe is contained in this here-now. With the understanding of this knowledge I can now begin to practice and convert it into direct personal experience, into wisdom. I am creating my time to be in love, hug a tree, travel, caress the petals of a sweet smelling flower, learn new languages, truly be with friends and family, laugh, cry, dance, sing, spin, play didge, listen to music, meditate, massage, practice yoga (union).
It is my vision to co-create this place, our place, our home, our life giving life line, our earth. This mass which so beautifully mimics our growth and evolution. Por ejemplo, some times we are flowing like the great ocean currents, that sweet dance of shifting tidal motion, ....Some times we are erupting like fiery volcanoes, those red beauties that destroy only to bring life anew, .... Some times we are grounded and solid, and then the shifting vibrations shake us so that we are never stagnant, ...... And some times we are like the winds soaring, shifting this way and that, always moving in the divine flow. All of this comprising one live unit. One consciousness, one unit! Unit, UNITE! HA!
I am now understanding that it is my responsibility as part of this unit to live with focused attention. To me this means in every moment, doing my best to live in integrity with myself and our planet. This is what I envision.... a world where we are all taking personal responsibility for our attention and from this place we change our world, all the while laughing and taking joy in the great mystery.
A Tom Robbins parrot says it best, “People of zee wurl, relax!” No need to rush, for it is all here, and it is ALL perfect! I am choosing to step it up a few notches, and am inviting you to do the same, both for yourself, and for our conscious collective. I experience life one moment at a time with the wisdom that I am SO taken care of and awesomely guided by spirit. When I tune in.... the next step.... is this moment. And I am SO in love with it!