Ego-Bean Salad

I first heard of the following account this morning, through Source. I have no way of verifying if it’s true. I’ll leave that up to you to decide:

***

Once upon a time, there was a quaint little village named Eedon; which was named after A. & E. Eedon, who were the first couple to settle there in 1802. Nestled in a picturesque valley, the village consisted of seven-hundred kind souls. There was peace in the valley because everyone showed compassion to their neighbours and were generous of spirit. No one knew anything about bragging, boasting, and pride; in fact, they’d never heard of such behaviour. When a family was experiencing a challenging time, all of the neighbours got together and humbly pitched in to offer help. They built homes and barns together; helped educate one another’s children; tilled the soil and harvested crops together. All of the residents knew that they could count on one another. Until…

One day, at a town hall meeting, the Mayor, Mr. I-Come-Up-With-Bad-Ideas, suggested that they should hold a celebration in the center of town. They would have a feast. Everyone would contribute an ingredient from his or her pantry.

“What will we have for the meal?” asked Gwendolyn, one of the oldest residents in town. “Pork? Ribs? Potato salad?

Another man, Jed (who incidentally, barely kept his family fed) said, “No, let’s have fish. We have plenty of fish in the Eedone River, especially at this time of year.”

The polite discussion continued until the mayor proposed that they should have a special dish: Ego-Bean Salad. “Why, everyone’s got some degree of ego,” he said. “That way everyone can contribute to the meal. We’ll set up the cauldron in the town square, people will throw in their stash of ego-beans, give the mix a stir, and then step aside and make way for the next person. After the salad marinates for several hours, we’ll dine like royalty.

Although a few of the seniors doubted the wisdom of the planned menu, the mayor’s proposal was seconded by the deputy mayor, and the vote carried. A date was set.

On the day of the celebration all went well initially. People brought their families and musical instruments, and there was great merriment. The menu went over gangbusters, too. Bowl after bowl of Ego-Bean Salad was consumed. “More, please, more,” was the common remark as people lined up for seconds, even thirds. It’s rumoured that Jed consumed eight servings.

As dusk fell, a man known as Sparky casually sauntered into town. He almost always had a half-finished cigarette dangling from his lips. As he approached the town center, a flash explosion was suddenly set off. From miles away, people assumed it was a dazzling display of the northern lights. The first explosion was followed by several others and aftershocks that shattered windows in neighbouring towns. The cauldron still hasn’t been found.

***

And the moral of this tale? Why, this is just a little story about the hazards related to eating too much salad, right? It has nothing to do with letting our ego be in charge of our life. (If you’re earnestly eager to recognize your true Self, my YouTube video entitled “I Am: The Infinite” will be 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” 🙏🏻🧡

Down The Rabbit Hole

I’m sure that most readers are probably familiar with the expression “down the rabbit hole,” which suggests “following a path of curiosity or investigation that becomes increasingly deep and complex.” When I was a teenager, I unwittingly fell into a metaphysical rabbit hole by following my instincts to read books about the law of attraction and our spiritual nature. I had no idea where my strong interest would lead.

Since 2017, following an experience that’s commonly referred to as enlightenment (meaning: to awaken from the dream of personhood), that rabbit hole has dramatically deepened. Habitual patterns and conditioned ways of interpreting experience and the “world” occasionally still pull my perspective back into Maya (Sanskrit: “illusion“); but such occurs much less frequently now. I know my true Self is Consciousness. In part, I am helped by many priceless quotes that I’ve collected during years of study. Some of the most potent are taped to the inside of my kitchen cupboards, to serve as reminders of the deeper level of “reality” whenever I view them. It’s my hope that the following quotes will help to elevate your understanding and be valuable pointers to your essential nature:

“Mind is the creator of everything.”

– Parmamahansa Yogananda, The Law of Success

***

“What you are seeing and hearing right now is nothing but a dream. You are dreaming right now in this moment. You are dreaming with the brain awake.“

– Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

***

“However much you seem to be living in a material world, you are actually living in a world of imagination.“

-Neville Goddard, The Power of Awareness

***

“Everyone is sleeping. When you see other, when you see otherness, when you see duality, it is called dreaming. Only in the dream do you see objects.“

– Papaji, Wake Up And Roar, Satsang With Papaji, by Eli Jaxon-Bear

***

“Our entire experience arises in awareness. Is that clear to you?“

– Rupert Spira (noted author and teacher of non duality), Youtube

***

“Remember that your perception of the world is a reflection of your state of consciousness. You are not separate from it, and there is no objective world out there.“

– Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

***

“Nothing comes from without; all things come from within–from the subconscious. It is impossible for you to see other than the contents of your consciousness.“

– Neville Goddard, Feeling Is The Secret

***

Note: (If you earnestly desire to investigate your essential nature, which is Consciousness, my YouTube video entitled On The Count of Three–Wake Up will be helpful.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Love, Being Love

As we delve into the nature of our true Self, please imagine, if you will, what it’s like for a newborn baby to look upon the “world.” Everything would literally seem new, fresh, and alive. Without the function of higher mental faculties, the baby would be incapable of discerning the difference between its arm, foot, or hand and the sides of its crib. The baby would be innocent; it would not have learned that it was a “baby” and that it was different from “other” babies. It, would, thus interpret everything through it unique focal point of I Am.” True to its essential nature, the baby would naturally be Love, Being Love.

So, the point, Mr. Russell? My point is that our mask, or avatar of name and form, is a learned perspective. It’s an apparently physical-psychological costume comprised of name, gender, race, nationality and other downloaded bits of data related to an Earthly “i”-dentity. It’s not the foundation of our essential nature. Before I ever knew that my full name was Ronald Arthur Russell, “I” was and still “Am.” My true Self is that irreducible essential nature that’s impossible to remove. In spite of all the triumphs and tribulations that Mr. Russell may have taken so seriously, I remain “I Am.” Such also applies to the real “YOU.”

While its understandable that we must don a costume in order to assume our role in this Earthly play, it becomes problematic when all that we know of ourselves is the costume. It leads us into temptation to use “others’ for our own benefit and is the cause of great suffering within Consciousness. Depending on the environment into which we are born, we learn all or some of the following:

I’m different from “others.”
I’m more special than you or, sadly, believe to be not as good.
“They” aren’t our kind of people.
I must compete, and win, to have value.
I can only love people of my same colour, race, nationality, and creed.
I will take from “you,” so that I (the “person“) can thrive.

Due to our identification with a purely conceptual “i”-dentity, actions are performed against “one another” that Love would never knowingly do. Most “humans” don’t realize that when we harm another, we literally harm ourselves. Why? Because…

LOVE recognizes that we are all One.

***

Every Being that dares to dive deep into Self inquiry and knowingly recognize his/her essential nature elevates the expression of God on Earth; and where there’s more God Awareness…

there’s more love, more joy, and more peace.

Surely, surely, surely that’s a worthy goal.

Dare to Dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Little Johnny Acres

At the tender age of nine, Little Johnny Acres witnessed the death of his father. Family, friends, and neighbours labelled what occurred as “passing over” or “going to a greater reward;” but Johnny knew the facts. He had witnessed his father clutch his chest, take his last breath, and die. The father that he loved so dearly was dead and gone. Afterward, Johnny pretended (as he assumed the rest of his family was pretending) that his father was in a wonderful place called Heaven. But deep in his heart, Johnny doubted that such could be true.

In the coming years, Johnny’s interpretation of his father’s death coloured his attitude about many of his experiences. He chose to live now, for tomorrow you may die. He believed, as the majority of persons still do, that you only live once, so make the best of it! Time seemed like an enemy that could strike anyone down without warning. An adult now, he preferred to be called John; but he still clutched the childhood wound like a prized possession that somehow kept his father close. If he let it go, it would seem like giving up on his father; and he wasn’t about to do that. Until…

Years later, John discovered an esoteric book entitled The Master Key System, by Charles F. Haanel. He read it several times; gleaning what knowledge he could from its content. Upon one such reading, the following leapt out at him:

“The spirit of a thing is that thing; it is necessarily fixed, changeless and eternal.

The spirit of you is — you; without the spirit you would be nothing.

It becomes active through your recognition of it and its possibilities.”

Over the coming months, John’s understanding grew by leaps and bounds as he re-read The Master Key System. The tumblers of his locked view of a “material world” were clicking open. Haanel’s message was that we are spiritual beings, here and now. Through daily meditation, he realized that his experience on Earth was occurring within the waking-state dream. With this knowledge, he was finally able to peacefully set the memory of his father to rest. He also knew the meaning of Acts 17:28:

“For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

***

Dear Readers: I know that many of you may have experienced the death of a loved family member or friend. If it feels right to do so, please contemplate the words that helped to free Little Johnny Acres from his emotional suffering: “The spirit of a thing is that thing.” Appearances are, indeed, deceiving. We aren’t who we appear to be. We are Spirit. “In Him [Consciousness] we live and move and have our being.” The description of our essential nature is related in the following quote from the Bhagavad Gita, one of the Hindu holy books:

“Weapons cannot cut It, nor can fire burn It; water cannot wet It, nor can wind dry It.”

Let not your heart be troubled. (If you’re curious, I offer more information in my YouTube video entitled “The Incarnate I Am.”)

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

Dreaming of Coffee

At precisely 7:00 a.m., Bob Brightman heard the sound of the alarm on his bedside table and slowly wakened from his slumber. He shut off the alarm, stretched his arms wide, and ambled to the washroom. A few minutes later, he groggily joined his wife, Helen, in their rustic kitchen. The room was aglow with the warm sunlight that was shining through their kitchen’s eastward-facing window.

“Coffee?” Helen asked, as he approached her and kissed her softly on the cheek.

“You know it,” said Bob, with a grin. He added milk to the coffee and assumed his favourite position in the glider chair next to the window. The first few sips of his coffee tasted like morning nectar.

Holding her own cup of coffee, Helen moved into a chair directly across from her dream guy.

“You know,” began Bob, “last night I dreamed that I was drinking coffee that tasted every bit as real as this.”

“Tell me more,” said Helen.

“Well, I was holding my favourite mug, the one you and boys got me for my birthday. I could feel its weight, the heat of the coffee, and even smell the aroma of the freshly-ground coffee beans. Strangely enough, just like I’m doing now.”

Helen took a few sips of her coffee and looked around their kitchen. “It’s incredible, isn’t it,” she said, “how the mind can replicate reality in our dreams.”

“It definitely is,” said Bob, “even to the point of fabricating skyscrapers, mountains, and people.”

“Truly amazing,” said Helen.

Lost in thought, Bob seemed to freeze momentarily. “You know,” he said, with a puzzled expression, “it almost makes you wonder if the mind could be rendering this, right here and now.”

“What do you mean?” asked Helen.

“You know, dreaming us, drinking coffee in our kitchen.”

“Well, that’s preposterous,” said Helen.

“Is it?” said Bob.

Helen smiled and softly pinched her cheek. “I feel pretty real to me,” she said.

“But we feel real in our nighttime dreams, too,” said Bob. “When we dream that we’re skiing, driving a car, or eating a meal, it all seems very real.”

“Oh, you–you crazy Mr. Brightman!” exclaimed Helen.”Don’t be so silly. Enjoy your coffee and then get your butt into the shower. “Our backyard lawn really needs to be cut today.”

Bob smiled and slowly sipped the remains of his coffee; but as he showered and, later, cut the grass, the question about the nature of reality kept begging to be answered. As Helen washed the breakfast dishes, she also found herself pondering the following question: “How would we know if our lives were a dream?”

That afternoon, Bob was rummaging through his collection of books about spirituality when he came across the following quotes. Given what Helen and he had talked about earlier that day, it gave him pause to contemplate the issue very deeply:

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”

– T. E. Lawrence

***

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

– Man’s Eternal Quest, by Paramahansa Yogananda

***

“Everyone is sleeping. When you see other, when you see otherness, when you see duality, it is called dreaming. Only in the dream do you see objects. When there is other, it is a dream, and prior to this dream, you must be sleeping. Sleeping is ignorance. When you wake up from this state, you wake up to awareness.”

– Wake Up And Roar, Satsang With Papaji,” by Eli Jaxon-Bear

***

Dear Readers: We can awaken, now. When you realize this, a world full of new and exciting possibilities opens up before you. We’re informed of this in Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” You are Spirit eternal. (If you’re curious about learning more, you might find my YouTube video entitled “Living The Dream” and my blog article entitled “Notes From Beyond” helpful.)

Dare to Dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

“Fooled By Your Name”

The title of this article is borrowed from a line in The Book, by Alan Watts, who was a noted British author and expert on Buddhism, Taoism, and theology. The subtitle of his book, On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, hints of a door to a dimension of Self that most may never be tempted to knock on, let alone open.

Our conceptual “person” can never know lasting peace and joy. It’s like asking an illusion to produce something that’s “real.” But beneath the world of name and form, in which we refer to things by words, there lies the most mysterious of mysteries. Our true Self is prior to the mind; therefore, beyond the scope of definition and comparison. It’s nature is peaceful, singular, and all-pervading; there’s, literally, nowhere that It is not. The key that unlocks the door to this dimension is stillness. When we turn away from sense objects and become still through meditation, it’s possible to “re-cognize” (know again) the very nature of our Being. We discover that we’re not our thoughts; nor our sensations, feelings, or perceptions. These, and everything else, are known by the real You, Awareness. Its nature is pointed at through the following quote from Chapter 25 of the Tao Te Ching:

“There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe.”

Even a little investigation can reveal invaluable insights. Think: For objects to be known, they must be known by something. True Self is not a thing in the common use of the word; nevertheless, it is present; or, more accurately, Presence. Wherever we are, Consciousness is. It’s impossible to think “I don’t exist” because the very thought requires Consciousness to think it. Our essential nature is That which registers impressions from an apparently external world. It is also Consciousness that registers the name and form of the body-mind that we erroneously believed to be our personal identity.

Why should we care, especially when life seems to be ticking along just fine? For that very reason. The hands of our body-mind’s clock are moving; but we need not wait for the “alarm” of its impending death to recognize true Self. There’s a multitude of benefits that can be realized now; not the least of which is that we are immortal Beings. Our true Self is immune to the human drama; thus, not tainted by suffering and fear. No event, circumstance, or situation can harm it. The Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord) points to our true nature through the following quotes:

“Weapons cannot cut it, nor can fire burn it; water cannot wet it, nor can wind dry it.”

“I am the Self, O Gudakesha [one who has conquered sleep or ignorance], seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.”

Dear Readers: There’s a Source of Love within you that’s waiting to be rediscovered. Due to the veil of forgetfulness that’s required for a “human” journey, we forfeited knowledge of our true nature; but forgetting can never erase That which we truly are. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare summarized a deep truth about names, through a line spoken by Juliet: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The essential You is That sweet fragrance–not the name and form through which true Self expresses Its divine nature. (If you’re curious about learning more, I believe you would find the content of my YouTube video entitled “To The Point: I Am” helpful.)

Dare to Dream (and care for one another).

With heartfelt regards,

Art

The Doe Boy

The Doe boy, John, learned everything he knew about swimming from his parents, Mike and Mary Doe. In truth, they knew very little about swimming; but, nonetheless, they did their best to teach John how to swim. They were of good heart, but unaware of that which they were unaware (as are we, all). John was taught that to swim effectively he must continuously pat the top of his head with one hand, while flailing the water with his other arm. As a result, he swam in circles for years.

Similarly, John was taught what was acceptable and not. Seeking love and approval, he, therefore, denied the deep callings of his heart and allowed his parents, teachers, and other influencers to teach him how to be a good “person.” John, thus, believed that to be worthy he must achieve great marks (in subjects that bored him); hold a respectable career (in a field that didn’t interest him); be a financial success (defined by neighbours); say “yes” to keep the peace (even if that meant denying himself); be married (with children); and never be late. From his limited perspective, he came to believe that “following these rules” must be the fabled way of becoming happy. To settle for anything less would signify that “he”–not the circumstances–was a failure.

Just as John’s swimming style appeared awful; so, too, did the quality of his life. Having sacrificed the Truth of his Being for the loud opinions of the masses and his demanding ego, he found his career, marriage, and finances in ruin. As his suffering increased, the health of his body decreased. In the dark hours of his loneliness, he questioned whether his life held any value.

An unexpected event changed him and his outlook: One summer day, when he found himself wading into a nearby lake, he heard a faint but undeniable voice, as though spoken from within. It whispered: “Just turn on your back and float. Let Me carry you.” At first, John was puzzled; by both the voice and the message. Could it possibly be that by not trying so hard, he could actually remain afloat?

Daringly, John waded into the water…to his knees, waist, and then chest. A quiver ran through his being. Leaning backward, trusting, he eased his head toward the water, while focusing skyward. With a gentle push off, he let his legs and belly rise. There, floating gently, he realized directly that swimming (and life itself) needn’t be such a struggle. With barely any movement at all he floated easily.

In the coming months, John also realized that true Self, the One beyond name and form, had been there all along; seeking to express Itself through him. As he heeded the intuitive nudges of his essential nature, other aspects of his life soon began to improve dramatically.

***

Dear Readers: The account of the Doe Boy is fictional, of course; but what it represents is true. There’s a reservoir of Divine Love that’s flowing to and through you. Via the practice of self inquiry, you may knowingly recognize true Self. You don’t have to try to be That which you are; you are It already. To recognize this deeper dimension, you may find the following question helpful: “Who Am I–really?” You are not a name; not a definition; not your body-mind. You are a spark of the Divine Creator, having an apparently human experience. The Source of peace and joy that you’ve been seeking lies within.

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

Your Mission: Found

Back by popular demand (okay, that might be stretching the truth just a little), I offer you my rendition of Mission I Am Possible. Press here to play it. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to re-cognize (know again) That which you are. With that in mind, I offer the following:

Maxwell Planck, the German theoretical physicist, is attributed with this quote: “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” This is easier to understand through the analogy of our nighttime dreams. All of the objects, events, and persons are made of Mind, which is Consciousness in motion. No one would claim that they exist beyond the mind that perceives them.

In Why Materialism Is Baloney, by Bernardo Kastrup, who’s a noted philosopher, author, and computer scientist, he wrote: “Experience is all there is. The world, as we know it, is a representation in consciousness.”

In John 1:3, it’s stated: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” In this verse, “him” refers to God. I suggest that God is Consciousness, or Awareness of Being.

In Acts 17:28, it’s stated: “‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” All of the characters and events within a nighttime dream “exist” only within Consciousness.

In John 8:58, it’s stated: “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” I humbly suggest that He wasn’t saying that “I, Jesus” was before Abraham. He meant that “I Am” is the substratum from which everything arises.

In Isaiah 45:5: it’s stated: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me.” I offer that to “not acknowledge me” refers to being ignorant (unaware) of the Source of our Being.

***

In Ego-land, aka Earth, most “persons” see things very differently. When asked who they are, most will likely reply that “I am…name, age, form, gender, race, nationality, status, etcetera.” But words are merely terms, or conceptual structures, that refer to something else. Thus, we realize that all of the words with which we define or describe ourselves can’t possibly “BE” what we are. The question–“Who, or What, are we?”–then begs to be asked.

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which illustrates the story of a son (child of God) who requests his inheritance early and goes to a foreign land where he spends it wastefully, it’s told that the son finally becomes weary of his struggle in the world and returns to his Father. In Luke 15:24, the following is shared: “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” Consciousness, which forfeits knowledge of Itself to take an apparently human journey, celebrates when It awakens to Its essential nature.

Could it be that we are Consciousness, the ground of all Being, masquerading as form in the dream of human life? Could it also be that we’re “found” when we know our essential nature as Spirit? That’s for you to question and only You to know.

Dare to dream (and care for one another).

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

Think2wice

CONSCIOUSNESS, SPIRITUALITY, & LAW OF ATTRACTION

Category: Truth

Ego-Bean Salad

Down The Rabbit Hole

Love, Being Love

Little Johnny Acres

Dreaming of Coffee

“Fooled By Your Name”

The Doe Boy

“Pawn’s” Homecoming

Your Mission: Found

The Big “Oh”

Menu