Mining Gold

The gold referred to in this article isn’t found as shiny nuggets panned from streams; nor is it bound in ore within the Earth. It’s spiritual Gold, and It’s closer than your breath. It’s the most precious non-thing, never found via the senses.

In some spiritual traditions, gold is used as a metaphor for the Source of our Being. We, as humans of various shapes, sizes, and colours, are likened to articles of golden jewelry such as rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Through this analogy, we understand that all of the pieces of jewelry are, essentially, gold. This principle applies to humankind; since at our core, all of us are fashioned from, and known by, Consciousness. In spiritual terms, we refer to It as God (or other reverent names); in scientific terms, we refer to It as the Unified Field; and informally, we refer to It as “I Am.”

To understand our true Self more deeply, it’s important to realize that Consciousness is self aware and that Its nature is creative. Out of the One Spiritual Gold, all of the forms, including the world and our apparent body-minds, are made and known. Logically, therefore, “each” of us must intrinsically be a shining nugget of Gold. As we’re made of It, It’s the one non-thing that can never be stripped from us.

To mine spiritual Gold, no amount of data collecting or soil sampling about our essential nature (books, religious services, spiritual retreats, online presentations) can ever replace leaning into our shovels and digging into the nature of our Being. Daily meditation is the tool with which we recognize the Gold that we are. When the overburden is removed (that which is not our essential nature; i.e., name, form, title, status, nationality, race, etc), the Gold is directly revealed. Please contemplate the similar message that’s uniquely expressed through the following quotes:

"Be still and know that I God."
—Holy Bible, Psalm 46:10

"Surely, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest."
— Qur'an, 13:28

"When the mind, restrained by the practice of meditation, becomes still, one sees the Self through the Self and is satisfied in the Self."
—Bhagavad Gita, 6:20

"Without meditation there is no wisdom; without wisdom there is no meditation. When meditation and wisdom are mutual, one is freed."
—Dhammapada, 372

"And after the fire came a gentle whisper."
—Tanakh, 1 Kings 19:12

"Empty yourself of desire, keep still inside, and the world will arrange itself."
—Tao Te Ching, 16

When God is raised from the depths of our Being to the surface of human interactions everyone’s life is enriched. Our experience is literally transformed. The ego’s selfishness is displaced by God’s selflessness. Base human traits are replaced with the genuine love of the Creator. We can, thus, know and appreciate the Gold that’s shining through the form of “others.” This type of Gold is worth mining, here and now. (If you’re eager to recognize your divine nature, you might find my YouTube video entitled “The Bedrock of Being” helpful.)

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

P.S. Please share this article if you enjoyed it. If you’d like to view my latest book (This Taste of Flesh and Bones), press here. My YouTube videos can be found at Think2wice@I-Am-Aware. May the content of either or both help you along your spiritual journey. “Thank You” & “Note to Publishers” 🙏🏻🧡

Here and Now: The Holy

Oh, how our ego loves to tell tales. With its sly reptilian ways, it regales us with continuous stories about our life. Through its silent voice, it decrees that we and so-called others are either wicked or worthy. Via the faculty of memory, it inflates us with pride about our successes; but then, in a moment flipped like a coin, reduces us to shame about our failures. In a dizzying twirl, it winds us up like gossiping toys about our neighbours’ sins; yet conveniently ignores our own. Through our belief in the ego’s reality, suffering arises.

In the blink of an eye, our ego shape-shifts from role to role. As the charmer, it coddles us with, “You’re the best–so good and lovely!” When it plays the stern judge, it holds the gavel high as we pray for a favourable verdict. Reduced to beggars, we wonder, “Today, will I be spared or thrown to the lions? But even if we’re spared, it soon jabs us with the next grave thought–“But what about tomorrow?” Behind our backs, the ego slaps its knee and howls, “Ha-ha, ho-ho, they don’t even know that Now is all there is!”

***

Dear Readers: If you’re begging to be freed from your ego’s harsh treatment, please consider the practice of daily meditation. Even five or ten minutes each day can be helpful. You might also consider asking: Who Am I?–really. Hint: The real You can’t be found through accretion. It’s only by removing all that we aren’t that we realize All that we “are.” Can you really be the person that’s perceived? If so, what is That which is perceiving it? We’re free when we realize that true Self is beyond the ego’s stories–both good and bad. (If you’re eager to recognize your divine nature, you might find the content of my YouTube video entitled “The Incarnate I Am” helpful.)

Dare to Dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

“Pawn’s” Homecoming

In a land called Prodigus, there was a young chess piece named “Pawn.” He disliked his name because it seemed common and lower class. In his innocent mind, he dreamed of being a king; in fact, the greatest king that ever lived. He knew that pawns were often considered peasants of “the board,” as it was called; and that they were often sacraficed, a tactic that he found most unappealing.

During one game, when Pawn was waiting to be moved, the King on his side of the board noticed the young chess piece’s malaise. Pawn looked tired and forlorn. Because of his loving nature, the King inched closer and struck up a quiet conversation. “Is something bothering you?” he asked.

Young Pawn’s face immediately brightened. He was honoured to have the King’s attention. “Uhm, thank you for asking,” he stammered. “I’ll be okay. It’s just that I don’t really like being a pawn. I want to be a great king like you.”

“Ahh,” said the King, with a nod. “Now, I understand. Has the competitive nature of our game been bothering you?”

“What do you mean?” asked Pawn.

The King chose his words carefully. “Well, enthusiasm for the game is important; but we must also remember what really matters. Pieces often compare themselves to other pieces and imagine that someone with a higher ranking is more valuable.”

“But you are!” exclaimed Pawn. “You’re royalty–the most important one! The whole chess game is based around you.”

The King smiled and patted Pawn on the shoulder. “That’s just the way it looks,” he said. “We’re wise not to judge by appearances.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pawn.

The king looked deep into Pawn’s eyes. “The truth is,” said the King, “that I’m not worth one whit more than you.”

“Huh?,” said Pawn, with a puzzled expression. “I don’t understand.”

“I mean,” said the King, “that you and I are of equal worth, even though we play different roles. I’m called the King, but “King” isn’t what I Am. It’s only relatively true that I’m more valuable than you. From the perspective of Truth, we’re equal. We’re both made of God stuff.”

“What’s God stuff?” asked Pawn.

“God stuff,” said the King, “is your essential nature. It’s what you and I actually are. At the deepest level, we’re the same.”

Pawn beamed quietly. Within him, he felt a sense of warm belonging that felt vaguely familiar. “Thank you, my King, for telling me.”

The King leaned down and discreetly gave Pawn a hug. “Just between you and me, you don’t have to call me King. It’s just a name…basically just letters arranged in a particular order. In fact, my real name is Archibald. I used to get called “Baldy” when I was a kid; but that can be our little secret.”

***

Dear Readers: Like all of us, Pawn was conditioned to think of himself as a thing. He knew himself only as a chess piece with a certain name, who lived on this or that type of board, and was a commoner in the game of life. His status was determined, so he assumed, by the definitions that he had accepted about himself. Thus, he believed that he’d finally be a somebody when he, too, was a king. What he overlooked, as most “persons” do, is that a king who’s unaware of his essential nature is impoverished, even if he’s living in a palace. Thank goodness that the King told him that he was made of God “stuff.” Could you, too, be overlooking a deeper dimension of Self that’s priceless? The difference between being played by life, and being an aware player, is tremendous. (If you’re earnest about recognizing your divine nature, you might find my short YouTube video entitled “Ruminating on Rumi” helpful.)

Dare to Dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Living The Dream

At one time or another, most of us have probably asked someone how his or her day was going; and their reply was, “Oh, I’m living the dream.” What I’m asking you to consider is whether there could be more to that saying than meets the eye.

I offer you my short video with content that points to our true nature as Consciousness, or Spirit. I hope that you’ll find the information helpful.

Dare to Dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

The Whole Enchilada

The expression that serves as the title of this article implies wholeness and integrity. Nothing is lacking. I’m using the expression to refer to the “knowing” that we experience when we recognize the Truth of our essential nature. To “become” a knower of true Self is unmistakable because it’s incomparable. Anything less is just spice and sauce–a poor imitation.

Why, though, is knowing it so important? Because at some point, most persons will become dissatisfied with life as it is. I’m not being negative or pessimistic; it’s just an inherent part of the shifting sands of the human experience. The historical Buddha called it Dukkha. In spite of having good health, great relationships, and adequate wealth, many feel that something (not a thing) seems missing. No matter how great our efforts, the results that we achieve give rise to only temporary happiness. This is when many individuals embark upon a spiritual journey of discovery.

When we begin our spiritual investigation we may initially feel fulfilled by visiting distant ashrams, temples, or cathedrals. We may enjoy studying scriptures or listening to gurus, rabbis, ministers, or priests share their knowledge. The practice of meditation or daily prayers may also seem new and exciting. For a while, the disruptive narrative of the ego may decrease or briefly stop; but seekers often discover that even this new spiritual activity also loses its thrill. Still, something seems to be lacking.

The solution may arise in an unexpected way. In deep sleep, we have intimate experience of the peace that’s inherent with Being our essential Self; for in that placeless place, we know nothing of a world, space-time, or the challenges that are associated with the perspective of the false self. When we merge again with the waking state (erroneously assumed to be daily reality), we may find ourselves in the same happiness quandary. Perhaps the following content from Who Am I?, by Sri Ramana Maharshi (who awakened suddenly to his true self at the age of sixteen) will be helpful:

5. [Seeker] Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken to be real)?

[SRM] There will not be.

6. [Seeker] Why?

[SRM] The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the rope which is the substratum will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the realization of the Self which is the substratum will not be gained unless the belief that the world is real is removed. Note: The reference to the rope and snake is related to a story in which a monk was once greatly frightened because he erroneously believed a rope to be a snake. It’s an allegory for the human condition. When we erroneously believe ourselves to be the “person,” we suffer.

Enlightenment means to be freed “from” the tyranny of the conceptual “person” who’s dissatisfied with the human experience, not “as” the person. An illusory character can’t possibly become enlightened because it doesn’t actually “exist.” If we’re still carrying the burdensome perspective of our personal John or Jane Doe, we haven’t yet knowingly experienced The Whole Enchilada. (If you doubt that this can be true, I believe that you’ll find the information within my YouTube video entitled “Pointers to Self & Power” interesting.)

With heartfelt regards,

Art

The Big “Oh”

In the movie entitled When Harry Met Sally, starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, there’s a famous scene in which Harry and Sally are having a discussion about relationships while sitting at a table in a busy diner. Sally is telling Harry that at one time or another most women have faked an orgasm. Harry doubts that such has ever happened to him—he would know. Sally then goes to great length to demonstrate a fake orgasm that includes tossing hair, hand pounding the table, and cries of “Oh, God, ohhh, God–yes, yess, yesss!” After Sally finishes making her point, Rob Reiner’s mother, Estelle, who plays a character sitting at nearby table, nonchalantly tells her waiter, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

***

Most adults are probably familiar with the type of big “O” referred to by Harry and Sally; but for the purposes of this article I’m going to relate some information about a very different type. It’s the big “Oh” related to our spiritual nature; which by and large goes unrecognized by the masses for a human lifetime.

Since infancy, all of us have programmed to believe that “our” consciousness is personal and arises due to neuronal processes of the brain. This belief is so deeply ingrained within us that the majority never question its validity. We assume that our identity is a combination of sensations, images, feelings, thoughts, and memories related to name, age, gender, race, and nationality, etc. Due to this, we conclude that “we” begin at conception or birth and will, thus, end at death of our body-mind. Upon this common shaky assumption we base our entire life.

What if, however, that such isn’t true? The big “Oh” related to spiritual awakening turns this paradigm of reality on its head. Through enlightenment, we realize that our essential nature is Consciousness, Itself; in which the world and our body-mind arise. For those who claim that such is impossible, it’s worth contemplating the fact that space-time and all of the apparent “material” objects and scenarios within nighttime dreams are rendered by Consciousness. During a dream, situations seem as real as real can be. A brick building within a dream seems to be made of “real” bricks and mortar; but when we, Awareness, merge once again with waking-state “reality,” we realize that the brick building and everything else within the dream were created by mind, which is Consciousness in motion. At that point, we assume that “Earth” is made of matter, not Consciousness. But, is it?

To support the information I’m sharing, I offer Saying 2 (of 114 Sayings attributed to Jesus) from The Gospel of Thomas:

Jesus says: “Let him who seeks cease not to seek until he finds: when he finds he will be astonished; and when he is astonished he will wonder, and will reign over the universe!”

I humbly suggest that the “astonishment” to which Jesus referred isn’t that we’re a person in a material world; but that we, in fact, are the Universal Consciousness, or Spirit, in which our “person” and the world arise. The false self, our person, is nothing but a repetitive “I-thought” that we assume to independently “exist.” Please contemplate the following quote from Man’s Eternal Quest, by Paramahansa Yogananda:

“Live in the consciousness of Spirit, in that oneness with God wherein you know that life is a dream.”

This is supported in this quote, from “Why Lazarus Laughed,” by Wei Wu Wei:

“Reality alone exists–and that we are. All the rest is only a dream, a dream of the One mind, which is our mind without the “our.”

Our understanding can also deepen through the following quote from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra:

“This embarrassing problem–that there is no way to prove the existence of an outside world–undermines the entire basis of materialism. Thus we arrive at the second spiritual secret: You are not in the world; the world is in you.”

If you would like to experience the big “Oh,” I highly recommend the practice of meditation. Make “time” to sideslip the world of the senses and enter the transcendent Now. In the stillness of Being, it’s possible to realize that you are Spirit, here and now, dreaming a human life. Recognition of true Self is the biggest “Oh” you’ll ever experience. If you’re eager to recognize your essential nature, I offer more information through my following YouTube video entitled “Unchained Love, Our True Nature.” When you knowingly “meet” your true Self, you’ll experience a sense of glory beyond compare.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

8 Billion Prodigal Sons

This article contains an exaggeration: There aren’t actually eight billion prodigal sons. It’s true, however, that the vast majority of Beings are prodigal sons and daughters without being aware of it. Before we go further, let’s share what the term prodigal son actually means:

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, prodigal is defined as follows: “characterized by profuse or wasteful expenditure; recklessly spendthrift.” The Parable of the Lost Son, found in Luke 15: 11 – 32, relates the account of a father and his two sons. The younger son asks to receive his inheritance from the father, who willingly grants it. He travels to a distant country and lives an extravagant and wasteful life; while the older son stays at home. In time, the son who went away becomes destitute and is forced to work as a swineherd, which would have been considered repugnant work. When the circumstances of his life finally become unbearable, the prodigal son finally realizes that he must rise and return to his Father, who welcomes him with open arms.

The parable is actually a metaphor for what happens during our human journey. When we stray from the Father (Awareness), it means that we have been ensnared by the world of illusion (Maya) and forgotten our essential nature, which is Spirit. Due to conditioning, we assume ourselves to be a separate self of name and form. That’s what it means to turn away from the Father, aka Consciousness. In our confusion, we waste our life on self-centered goals related to a fictional self. The parable mentions repentance, but this doesn’t have to be interpreted heavily. To repent merely means to acknowledge our error (sin: to miss the mark) and recognize true Self. The son’s return to the Father means that the son has “awakened” and realized his true nature as Spirit.

For several hundred years, the materialist paradigm of reality has convinced the vast majority of beings that their apparent body-mind and world are made of independently existing stuff called “matter.” This continues to occur despite science informing us that atoms, which were once considered the building blocks of matter, are 99.999% empty space. The truth is that our apparent body-minds and the world are rendered by mind, which is Consciousness in motion. When Jesus said, “I and my Father are one,” he was referring to Consciousness.

How do we turn to the Father? By investigating the nature of our true identity through self-inquiry. We can “Know Thyself” by withdrawing our attention from our senses and becoming still. When we meditate, it becomes obvious that we are the witness of our sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. Our true nature is That which knows. Awareness, Itself, is the the very Substance of All That Is. It’s not dependent on the body or the mind. In fact, the truth is the other way around–the body and mind are dependent on Consciousness. They appear in the Waking State and are erroneously assumed to be the sum total of our being. Every time that we rest in the stillness of our essential nature, we return to the Father and, thus, know peace and joy. We only suffer, or become destitute (as in the case of the prodigal son), when we fall back into Maya and the perspective of personhood.

The ratio referred to in the first paragraph will begin to tip in favour of the Father when more beings investigate their essential nature. All that’s required is to ask the question “Who Am I?” with earnest curiosity. We are neither our body, nor our mind. Instead of trying to appease the false “i” through objects or activities, we are wise to turn within and discover the true Source of happiness. Human incarnation provides a unique opportunity to recognize our essential nature. It would seem a shame to waste it.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Think2wice

CONSCIOUSNESS, SPIRITUALITY, & LAW OF ATTRACTION

Category: Enlightenment

Mining Gold

Here and Now: The Holy

“Pawn’s” Homecoming

Living The Dream

The Whole Enchilada

The Big “Oh”

8 Billion Prodigal Sons

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