Three-B And The Mysterious Man

Bartholomew Bentley Beckham (better known as Three-B, since he was a child) was bothered–a lot. He grew into that way of living and unconsciously clutched it, the way that a four-year-old child clutches an ice cream cone. He was bothered when projects didn’t turn out right; he was bothered by weather that didn’t behave; he was bothered when siblings, friends, colleagues, and strangers made remarks that irked him. He once ranted for a full day about an increase in the price of stamps. To Three-B, this was not odd in the least; it was his habitual way of being. That life could possibly change for the better never occurred to him…until.

One day, at the age of forty-two, Three-B was sitting on a park bench for his lunch break. As he examined the sandwich he had purchased from a local fast-food restaurant (the order was incorrect again!), his facial muscles assumed the trademark grimace that friends and family knew all too well. At that instant, a mysterious man with white hair and a cane approached him and asked if he could sit on the other end of the bench.

“Certainly,” said Three-B, feigning politeness with a nod. In truth, he would have been happier to be left alone with his misery.

“Thanks,” said the man, who sat down, propped his cane against the bench, and began to sip his cup of coffee.

Again, another nod came from Three-B as he took a mouthful of food.

“Something bothering you?” asked the man.

“My lunch is wrong,” mumbled Three-B. “I told them to hold the mayo, mustard only. I also asked for pickles, but they added tomato instead.” To the man’s shock, Three-B then spent the next fifteen minutes recounting an unwanted summary of the other horrible aspects of his life.

“I see,” said the man. With great daring, he said, “Would you like my opinion?”

“Not really,” replied Three-B, with an automatic look of disdain.

Undaunted, the man said, “It appears to me that you’re unaware of a great secret, the ignorance of which is hindering your enjoyment of life.”

“Oh, yeah?” said Three-B, with a roll of his eyes.

“You’ve made the mistake that the majority of beings do in an incarnation; they identify completely with their dream character and assume that it has independent existence of its own. It does not. Nothing does. To quote The Tibetan Book of The Dead: Phenomena only ‘exist’ in the mind that perceives them.”

“Say what?” said Three-B.

“I said, basically, that your suffering occurs because you’ve identified with being the “person.” You are not. You are Consciousness, dreaming an apparently human existence. Consciousness is fundamental–it doesn’t arise from so-called matter. Go ahead, try to have an experience in the absence of Consciousness. It’s impossible. You’ve assumed that you are the person due to innocent ignorance of your Being. It’s why “Know Thyself” was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece. Change your personality, and your apparent reality will reflect that change. Galatians 6:7, expresses it clearly: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Be grateful in all of your daily interactions. Stop complaining, and think of ways to be of service. Monitor your thoughts, words, and actions as though the quality of your life depends on them—because it does! We are both dreaming this right now. Our human life is nothing but a psychological drama that occurs in what is termed the waking state; which is akin to the dream state, only sharper and more defined, with a continuing plotline. Infinite Living Mind is the creator of all of this. If you’d like a greater understanding about the nature of matter, you can go online and look up the Double-Slit Experiment and the Observer Effect.”

“That’s absurd,” said Three-B, “you must be raving mad!”

“Really?” said the man politely. “It seems to me that you’re the one who’s mad–at the world. I’m having a lovely day.”

A minute later, the mysterious man picked up his cane and said, “Anyway, I must be going. I’ve got a big date tonight, and I’m looking forward to it.” With a departing grin and a wave, he turned and soon disappeared beyond a knoll.

As for Three-B and the negative attitude that he had harbored for so long, people soon noticed subtle changes in his behavior. He seemed less angry at himself and others; and he was even occasionally overheard offering compliments. In a few days he actually did make the effort to research the hard problem of consciousness, which is a phrase coined by David Chalmers, and discovered that neurologists truly can’t explain the origin of consciousness. This was surprising—enough to spark his spiritual journey to know true Self.

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2022 – R. Arthur Russell

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 🙏🏻🧡

Think and “Glow” Rich

As a young man, I was naturally drawn to books about motivation and the powers of the mind. Although I didn’t fully understand them at the time, I read Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill; Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone; and The Power of The Subconscious Mind, by Joseph Murphy. The following quote, attributed to Henry Ford, held a strong appeal:

Whether you think we can or we think we can’t, we are right.”

In an effort to help you manifest more of what you desire and less of what you don’t, I’ll share one of my biggest misunderstandings. It still may be yours, without your being aware of it. Here it is: I thought I was the person, Art Russell, and, therefore, believed that “i” was the doer of my actions. Such is only understandable, for we’re conditioned to believe such is true from the day that we first appear. Spiritual Newsflash: I Am not my body-mind; nor are you. I Am Spirit, aka Consciousness.

The truth related to the New Thought movement is that any thought which is habitually impressed into the mind (with feeling) will inevitably lead to the apparent manifestation of that thought. Thinking of failure (by those who believe that life is happening outside of them, independent of their mind) leads to actions that fulfill that thought pattern. Conversely, thinking of success (by those who realize that we–as Spirit–are intended to be in control of the thoughts that emanate from us) leads to actions that fulfill our definition of success. We understand how this can possibly be the case when we realize that all of this–including this article, right now–is occurring in a dream. We, as humans, are not autonomous as flesh and bones. Rather, as the Bible clearly states in Acts 17:28: “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

In Three Magic Words, U.S. Anderson shares the principle through the following quote:

There are only two things you can do for yourself. One is conception, and the other is conviction. All the work of creation rests with another than you. For no man [or woman] is responsible for anything in his life except his thought and his belief.”

Now, obviously, if you still believe that you are the “person” named John or Jane Doe, this is going to seem ludicrous. A deeper understanding of our co-creative abilities comes when we realize that we are not the body-mind, despite appearances. We are Spirit eternal, dreaming an apparently human life. As such, we\re intended to rule the body-mind apparatus. To experience more success in your life, please deeply contemplate the following:

We can only attract that with which we are in harmonious vibration.

What does this mean? It means that we must first claim the spirit of what we desire–greater health, wealth, and success–in consciousness, and habitually BELIEVE that we have it, before it can apparently show up in the dream called “our life.” Isn’t that reason enough to practice right government of the mind? Put Awareness to work–you’ll be glad that you did.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2022 – R. Arthur Russell

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 🙏🏻🧡

Are You Tired, Yet?

Have you grown tired, yet, of pretending to be the person that you can never actually be? Or do you still feel quite content claiming to be John or Jane Doe? The majority of persons have been conditioned to tolerate/endure life’s teeter-totter of apparent ups and downs until they reach a breaking point. It’s then that their coping skills are seriously put to the test. Some people attempt to drown their sorrows in excessive drink, drugs, and distraction; others seek relief through therapy, new relationships, or changes in lifestyle. Could it be that our uninvestigated assumptions have led us deeply into ignorance of our true nature? Let’s approach this subject from a different level of understanding, through the following passage from a book entitled Open Secret, by Wei Wu Wei:

Maybe a quote from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, borrowed from the spiritual classic I Am That, would be of benefit. Named Maruti Shivrampant Kambli at birth, he recognized the Truth of his Being at the age of thirty-seven, after his guru (Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj) assured him that he was–already–the Supreme:

Perhaps a passage from The One in The Mirror, by Ramesh S. Balsekar could help clear up our confusion about the nature of the person who is suffering:

But, what did these three guys know, right? It’s probably just coincidence that our nighttime dreams also feel very real when they occur. Yes, that’s it, coincidence. Or maybe they stayed out in the sun too long. I’ve heard that it can get quite hot in India. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Ramesh Balsekar were born there; and Wei Wu Wei (Terence Gray) stayed at Sri Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in Tiruvannamalai. That could explain why they referred to our seemingly very real lives as occurring within a dream. It couldn’t actually be that we’re eternal BEings, dreaming an earthly existence…or could it?

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2022 – R. Arthur Russell

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 🙏🏻🧡

All Knowers on Deck

WEE-Oww; Wee-Oww; Wee-Oww: To the knowers, the piercing stabs of the blaring sirens was incredibly painful–eardrums threatened to rupture. Intuitively, they realized that the alarms signalled a perilous world situation of the highest magnitude. At heart level, they felt the following message: “All knowers on deck! Report to the bridge, Now! What ensued was the sound of stampeding footfalls and near misses as knowers raced to duty. At the bridge, aka Central Control, the dial gauges reported a dire situation, indeed:

Degree of Unconsciousness: Red alert. Levels of unconsciousness and risk of threatening behaviour nearing an all-time high. Danger of increasing chaos.

Persons-Knowers Ratio: Deeply egoic. Number of frightened egos dramatically increasing as unfounded fears reach insane levels.

Degree of Forgetfulness: Almost total. State of prodigal amnesia of the masses in full swing across nations. Some awakening occurring.

Propaganda Meter: Very high. Persons with opposing views broadly censored and subjected to ridicule and unjustifiable punishment for refusing to get in step with the program.

Dream Immersion: Situation critical. The majority of persons deeply asleep. Reaching bottom may occur.

***

Dear Readers: To those of you who as yet don’t realize that this–right now–is, indeed, a collective dream, I offer the following four passages from various books to help you knowingly re-awaken to Truth.

The first is from The Heart of Sufism, by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

The second is from A Course In Miracles:

The third is from Thought Power, by Swami Sivananda:

The fourth is from The One in The Mirror, by Ramesh S. Balsekar:

***

With expressions that reflected the pain of the worldwide situation, the knowers looked at one another and steadied themselves within. They realized that to rise out of the darkness that’s currently enveloping the world, they must maintain a positive vision and respond appropriately, with Love.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2022 – R. Arthur Russell

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 🙏🏻🧡

Are You Watching?

The great Lao Tzu (ancient Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism, and author of the Tao Te Ching) is attributed with having written the following famous quote:

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

For anyone who is seeking a logical understanding of the way to achieve better results, I know of no better method than to examine this quote in greater detail–and apply it! In a few words, simply and beautifully expressed, we are given a formula by which we can achieve our goals. The formula is concise, powerful, and effective. Please contemplate it with me for a few moments.

Lao Tzu is basically advising us to pay attention. We are to watch. We are to assume our rightful place above, or somewhat remote to, whatever is occurring. In our thinking, actions, and habits, we are to remain in the place of the witness. By doing so, we are practicing deliberate awareness. Conversely, if we are unaware, we may unintentionally create negative and troubling consequences.

To live in this manner enables us to realize the difference between reacting and responding. When we react, we allow old neural pathways to automatically govern our actions; but when we respond, we create space for choice, which gives rise to inspired ways of being. This difference can vastly change the results that we experience. So, what do you desire? Do you desire better health? Watch. Do you desire greater wealth? Watch. Do you desire more success? Watch—from the perspective of the true YOU.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

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–released September 8, 2020), press here. My YouTube videos may be found via this link. May the content of either or both help you along your spiritual journey. 🙏🤍

Thank You” & “Note to Publishers

Get Your Motor Running

When I was a young boy between the ages of four and six, I used to drive my car in the basement of our home. Yup, you read that correctly, my “car.” My car was nothing fancy–no power windows, no heated seats, no surround-sound stereo. My car was actually a cardboard box, with a slot into which I could insert one of the dozen keys that I kept on a ring in my pocket; and it had a steering wheel of some sort (most likely a plastic disc with a nail in the center), and a gear shift. It was a pretty basic daily driver (🙂) for a child with an active imagination. At that time, if any adult mind had attempted to tell me that I wasn’t really driving my car, I would probably have gotten into my car and left them behind in the dust.

For persons who are eager to manifest more of what they desire in life (not “want,” because to want literally means “to lack”), it’s vitally important that we get our motor running by visualizing the life that you truly desire. Do you desire improved health, greater wealth, loving relationships? If that’s the case, then I suggest committing a few minutes each day (preferably right after waking, and just before drifting off to sleep) to visualization. Experience your desire in as much sensory fullness as possible; as though you–already–have it. The important point it to feel your desire as being true now. To be most effective, it’s important to visualize a scene from the first-person perspective that implies the successful achievement of your goal Now. Why should we visualize our goals as achieved Now? Because when other than now can anything occur? If you visualize your goal as being achieved next week, its achievement will ALWAYS be one week away.

To add some more credibility to the content of this article, let’s draw on a quote from Andrew Carnegie, who was no lightweight when it came to manifesting great wealth and success. Many of you realize that he was the man who commissioned Napoleon Hill to write Think and Grow Rich; which some readers still consider to be the granddaddy of all law of attraction books:

Any idea that is held in the mind, that is emphasized, that is either feared or revered,

will begin at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate form available.

Let’s add more weight to the importance of visualization and the power of our words (whether you think you CAN (), or you think you can’t (X), by reading the following passage from Job 22:28:

Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee;

and the light shall shine upon thy ways.”

Perhaps the following quote from The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles will resonate more strongly with you:

No thought of form can be impressed upon original substance [consciousness]without causing the creation of that form. A human being is a thinking center and can originate thought.”

You might find even more reason to believe in the power of visualization through the following short article that relates a well-known study performed by Dr. Blaslotto at the University of Chicago in 1996. Press here if you’d like to read it. You “know” the manifestation of your desire is inevitable when (as Neville Goddard, the Barbadian mystic, proclaimed) you feel the “naturalness” of the wish fulfilled. The feeling is as certain as driving my “car” was to me as a young boy.

Of course, you realize that this article is not just about a child who once pretended that he was driving a car in his basement. My intention is to offer information that can help you manifest improved health and a greater degree of success (however you define success). Isn’t it time to head out on the highway?

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

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–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🤍

Thank You” & “Note to Publishers

An Email To Art

In a paradoxical twist, I share the fictional email below to relate Truth. May its message of love resonate with your heart and help to alleviate confusion that is the cause of our apparent suffering:

***

“Dear Art,

It is I Am, the Only One. I reach to you because I desire to ease your troubled heart. Your grief and despair, which is broadly termed suffering, have become too burdensome to carry. Because of my boundless love for you, I have formulated this message about your essential nature. Please read it carefully in a time and place conducive to introspection.

I Am well aware of what has been going on in your apparent world. You, and so many “others” are so worried about life. Grave concerns about health and well being, employment woes, and violence against one another have become so commonplace that there seems no light at the end of the tunnel. Please trust Me, there is. I shine for all of you, now and forever. The anguish that you’re experiencing is due to unrecognized ignorance. You erroneously assume that you consist of flesh and bones and that so-called matter is the foundation of your world. Due to this, you believe that your body-mind is discrete and functions autonomously; it does not. Without Me, it is impossible for you to lift a finger. This is related in John 15:4: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Please remember that I and the Father am one.

To correct the situation, you must become aware of your essential nature. Here is Truth: You are only dreaming that you are “Art.” Although you and eight billion persons appear to be physical, such is only appearance. The Sanskrit term for this illusion is Maya. To understand this better, we may compare your so-called reality–right here and now–to last night’s dreams. Of what were they made but Consciousness? Why do you assume that the apparent reality of your world to be any different? When you awakened this morning, did you expect to discover any material remnants from your dreams? If so, where are they now? Could not the reality of this experience called Life on Earth–of walking and talking, of working and playing–also be made of Consciousness? Can you glimpse that to which I point?

You cannot possibly be who you think yourself to be; nor can you be separate from Me. You can, however, BE. The fear and negativity that accompanies the human perspective, which is founded in ignorance, does not belong to you. You are not a separate self destined for an earthly grave; you are spiritual sons and daughters of I Am That I Am. You are Awareness, Christ Consciousness, the Buddha, hidden by the dark cloak of physicality. Your body-mind and the world appear in Consciousness. Through Me, you are a co-creator of your world and circumstance. You are Spirit, eternal.

To recognize Truth, it is imperative that you become still and know that I am God. The I Am that is Me is the same I Am that is you and everyone and everything else that you perceive. In other words, you are I, and I Am you. Perception ‘is’ the world. Arise, dear Art; it’s time for you and your spiritual brothers and sisters to know “What” you actually Are. You cannot become enlightened ‘as‘ a person; but you can be freed from the erroneous belief that you are a person. It’s time that you awaken to the Light of your BEING.

Much love,

Grace (of God)

***

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

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–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🤍

Thank You” & “Note to Publishers

Manifest: A Key Piece of Information

During my study of the teachings related to the Law of Attraction, I’ve read many wonderful books. Among them, I would highly recommend The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel; Creative Mind by Ernest Holmes; A Happy Pocket Full Of Money by David Cameron Gikandi, and several books by Neville Goddard, including The Power of Awareness, Your Faith Is Your Fortune, and Consciousness Is The Only Reality. My understanding has also increased by reading books that are purely spiritual in nature, such as I Am That, talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj; The Final Truth by Ramesh S. Balsekar; and several of Rupert Spira’s books, including The Nature of Consciousness, and The Intimacy of All Experience. In today’s article, however, I’m not going to focus on one specific book, but upon the following two sentences from a book entitled Neville Goddard’s Interpretation of Scripture:

Things have no reality other than in consciousness.

Therefore, get the consciousness first and the thing is compelled to appear.”

Please re-read those lines slowly, giving yourself time to absorb their import. To assimilate the content of these sentences, we’re going to have to unlearn most–if not all–of what we’ve been told about the very nature of “reality.” This doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a process, during which we realize that the materialist paradigm of reality is false. As Paramahansa Yogananda shared in The Law of Success: “Mind is the creator of everything.” The only non-thing that’s required to have an apparent experience is CONSCIOUSNESS. That is, in fact, our essential nature.

The True “YOU” is not made of flesh and bones. Your “person” is created by the mind. Due to confusion and conditioning, the vast majority of beings believe they’re the “person” that awakens to reality when they rise in the morning. What actually occurs is that we enter the waking-state dream. Our essential nature is consciousness, (aka Spirit); we are dreaming our human experience right now. This means that we must BE whatever we desire first before it can manifest in our apparent “reality.” I’ll add a little weight to this article by sharing the following quote from Plutarch, who was a Greek Platonist, philosopher, biographer, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi:

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.”

Our society has conditioned us to believe that we are the “person.” It has also programmed us to believe that hard work and sacrifice is the secret to the generation of wealth. That is a fallacy; we “are” wealth, itself, due to our divine heritage. To truly know this changes everything. Perhaps now you can understand why Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill includes the following quote:

If you are one of those people who believe that hard work and honesty alone will bring riches–perish the thought; because it’s not true. Riches, when they come in huge quantities, are never the result of hard work.”

***

This, my dear friends, is the key to deeper understanding; a key that will help you manifest more of your goals with greater ease and effectiveness. Your way toward manifesting your dream life will also go more smoothly when you select a goal that not only serves your best interests but also the betterment of humanity.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

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 🙏🏻🧡

Appearances Deceiving

Samuel Seeger had been seeking true Self for more than twenty years. Faithfully, he had meditated for a minimum of twenty minutes every day. Intuitively, he realized that there something to him–not a thing–that was beyond his name and form. “I mean, really,” he thought, “it’s impossible to actually be a name; for a name is merely a term for that to which it refers.” The word for a glass of water is not the same as holding an apparent glass of water; he reasoned that the same logic must, therefore, apply to Samuel Seeger. Of his body, he also realized that its cells were changing moment to moment. Despite the appearance thereof, there was nothing solid about either. He was seeking the eternal changeless, not the finite changeful. One day he read the following passage in a book (Who Am I?) by Sri Ramana Maharshi:

“At last,” he cried joyously, “I’ve finally recognized Truth! Tears of joy ran down his face as he realized that his so-called reality was actually occurring in a dream. For the next few days, everything he experienced through his senses took on a dream-like feeling. He erroneously assumed that he was now awake. All of his years of seeking had paid off. Yes, it only made sense: Why couldn’t it be that his life was occurring in a dream? Didn’t his nighttime dreams feel real? In a dream could he not imagine that he was flying a plane, riding a motorcycle, or eating a meal? All was well…until Samuel happened upon the following passage in a book entitled The Law of Success by Paramahansa Yogananda:

Initially, Samuel didn’t realize the importance of the words; but as he contemplated the passage more deeply, he focused upon the first line (Mind is the creator of everything) and felt an emotional shock run through his body. “But that,” he thought with nervous puzzlement, “would mean that mind must also be the creator of my body-mind. How, then, can my body-mind be real in the way that I’ve previously assumed? Less than a week later, he came across the following two passages:

“That which is seen, only appears, it does not exist.”

( Amrut Laya, The Stateless State by Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj)

***

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,

so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

(Hebrews 11:3)

During the coming weeks, Samuel’s understanding stabilized. The realization occurred that what was occurring was the surrender described in so many holy books. On some days, a feeling of tremendous sadness arose; but gradually, there came the understanding that it was only the illusory loss of being Samuel Seeger that was being mourned. Nothing real was ever lost, for he had never been Samuel. Only innocent confusion had made it appear so. What was gained was the knowing recognition that he was an aspect of That, the Divine Creator, the All in All.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

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 🙏🏻🧡

Vertical Living

My character, Art, apparently exists in a horizontal (linear) timeline. By this, I mean that he is perceived in space-time with other persons. He appears to have personal and professional history. According to the calendar, his body-mind was born in 1958 and will ultimately expire. If Art was attached to the body-mind perspective (as most individuals are), he would almost certainly fear death; for such implies finality. This is not the case, for I Am not Art. Joel Goldsmith, who was a noted spiritual teacher, wrote of this subject in his magnificent book entitled “A Parenthesis in Eternity.”

If you believe that you consist only of the body and mind, this means that you identify with being a limited flesh-and-bones container referred to as a human being. Conversely, if you recognize your essential nature as Consciousness, you identify with I Am, the ever-present vertical dimension of here and now. Through enlightenment, we realize that the apparent body-mind, world, and objects contained therein appear in Consciousness, are made of Consciousness, and are known by Consciousness. We are, thus, liberated from the apparent bondage of the body-mind perspective.

If you’re earnest about recognizing true Self, you may find it helpful to dismantle the materialist paradigm of reality by contemplating the matter of time. Time and space are rendered via the mind–they do not exist independently. The same holds true for the body-mind that goes by your name and form. Time is a concept that can easily be brought into doubt by attempting to experience either the past or the future. Is such possible? Life only occurs NOW. When we remember the apparent past, we do so NOW. When we imagine a conceptual future, we do so NOW. When else could we apparently “do” anything but NOW? Can you reach back to the first paragraph of this article and experience it as a discrete event in time?

Erroneous identification with the body-mind complex has had its day. It’s over. Now, it’s “time” to knowingly step into the vibrant and glorious aliveness of here and now. Everything is born fresh and new via Consciousness, the true Self, without any of the baggage related to a historical self that is ultimately illusory. The little “i”of name and form is a dream character that interacts with other dream characters in the Waking State–still referred to as reality by those who have as yet to awaken from the dream of personhood. Conceptually, this cannot be understood. However, it can be known directly when we become still and realize that we can witness our sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. True Self is prior to mind and, therefore, not subject to birth and death. The following quote from The Ultimate Understanding by Ramesh M. Balsekar may add fuel to your spiritual fire: “An object exists only because it is observed.” All that is required to have experience is Consciousness. We are That, eternal and immortal.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Copyright © – 2021 – R. Arthur Russell

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–released September 8, 2020), press here. May it help you in your spiritual journey. 🙏🤍

Thank You” & “Note to Publishers