Gaia Community: David Truman's Blog

Cheap Love for Hungry Hearts

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:16:36 GMT

What do almost all self-help offerings, popular spiritual paths, personal growth processes, and social clubs have in common? They all attempt to offer fulfillment, and they all fail -- for the same reason. Why? Because they fail to meet the essential needs of the human heart and soul -- and nothing else will actually DO. (Caution: contains a strong message, and strong language.)

Click here for audio only mp3

Transcript

David: People go to these seminars and so forth, and what's really happening is, people who can only afford an illusion are being sold an illusion, and that's really what's happening in all these things. Go to church, everybody loves you, but they're really not your friends. You see what I mean? Same with Amway. Same with Alcoholics Anonymous. Narc Anonymous. Corvette Club. Empowerment seminar. Buddhist empowerment. No matter what it is, the basic strategy is to fill a hollow leg with empty calories, for the budget-minded shopper in you.

In the seminar, you get to fall backwards and your partner will catch you, and you get to develop trust, and things like that. But then, when you go out in the parking lot, of course it's over. And you can tell that: all you gotta do is fall backwards right there in the parking lot. And bam! And you get a concussion. And what you found out is, your partner is gone. No one's there to catch you now.

So of course, you call up somebody whose number you got, or the leader, and you say, "Look, I fell backwards and I got a concussion. Now where were you?" And the person says, "Well you know, we need to get this straight, okay? You got what you paid for. Two hundred dollars. Okay? You got your seminar, now what do you expect? You sound like you're expecting some kind of real relationship."

This is like a John who goes to a hooker, and then he expects her to love him or something. It's like, "What?!" The girl is offended. "We had a deal! It was a cheap deal. It was a bargain basement deal. You sound like you want a relationship. That's the Pearl of Great Price, not the pearl of great rice. You get what you pay for. And in reality, you can't get that for that.”

What is love? Loyalty, generosity of spirit, commitment, true recognition, participation at a very high level, surrender, vulnerability, feeling, for keeps. That's what people want. And yet they're being sold this placebo shit, this absolute vacuous shit. It's ridiculous. Synthetic love, you see? Conceptual relationships. And if anybody talks about commitment, they're out. That's insane! That's not going to fly.

So this is what's happening with America and with the human beings on the planet in general, is the fact that the ego is so budget-conscious that, in reality, relationship is over, because relationship is the Pearl of Great Price, and it takes all kinds of shit. All the kinds of shit that the guy who goes for the hooker doesn't want to give. And the seminar people don't want to give it, and the ass-ram (ashram) people don't want to give it, and the ass-ram leaders don't want to give it. Leo Buscaglia. Ken Wilber. Sri Sri. You're on your own, pal.

Or then of course, there's the guy who's looking for the steal, you know. It's like a steal! "I'm going to get a whole bunch for just about nothing!" Ninety-eight percent off. That's what people want for love. They want tremendous love, tremendous attention, and stuff like this. Bring it on! At steal pricing. Nunce in a lifetime deal. A steal. But the funny thing is, you can't steal love. That's where that's at.

So this whole hope about this fantastic love that's basically going to come your way for naught, it ain't there, pal. Guess again. The love you take is equal to the love you make. You get what you pay for. Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet. So, don't look to the steal, okay?

(talking like a sports announcer) "There he goes, he's stealing first, he's stealing second, he's stealing third, he's stealing home." Boom! Shot him. You can't steal home. That's against the rules.

But the real thing is, everybody wants to gamble "on the come," as they say. Reality is no! A person who's worthy of love gives first; they don't steal first.

Think about it! What is love? It's not the person who takes it on the come. No. You see? You put your rabbit's foot on the table. You don't care at all if the person puts their doorknob out. That's what love does. That's what love is. The person who figures they're going to get theirs up front is nuts! They're not qualified. They don't have the right stuff. That's not it at all!

A lover would do it now and for a long time. They would do it. They would put their stuff on the table. Are you kidding me? That's all they do. That's all they've ever done. That's all they'll ever do. That's what they are! They're a living sacrifice, get it? That's their thing.

But if you want cheap, value-priced love, that's most of what's out there. There's not too many people that are into the real deal any more, anyhow. So it's not a problem. Most of the content of the things that address the value shopper in love are hype, designed to cover the cold reality of what they are with a warm fuzzy mask. You see?

I'm telling ya. So this is what it all has in common. And I'm not going to criticize everything individually. I'm just going to say hey, they're all the same. All they're doing is they're all doing the same riff. And that's what it is. And it's just an appeal to the third-rate romance, budget-minded shopper. All of them, I don't care which one it is. Doesn't make any difference to me. They're all the same.

Sittin' in a tiny table in a ritzy restaurant

She was starin' at her coffee cup

He was tryin' to keep his courage up

By applyin' booze

And talk was small when they talked at all

They both knew what they wanted

There was no need to talk about it

They were old enough to scope it out

And keep it loose

She said, "You don't look like my type

But I guess you'll do"

Third rate romance

Low rent rendezvous

And he said, "I'll even tell you that I love you

If you want me to"

Third rate romance

Low rent rendezvous

Third rate romance

Low rent rendezvous

Tags: Love, relationship, commitment, seminars, empowerments, social criticism, superficiality

INDEX TO PAST BLOGS

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:52:47 GMT

1. Friends!

Poem for friends, illustrated with pictures of some very dear ones.

2. Sanctuary for Delicate Flowers

In order to have the good and the beautiful, let us create the environment that can make that possible. We can have what is good and beautiful to the extent that we give it an appropriate home, a great home — a home compatible with the nature of what is good and beautiful.

3. Hyper Intellectual Spirituality: Highlands of Unfulfillment

A lot of truth seekers these days have a kind of Attention Deficit Disorder. If they’re reading a book, listening to a lecture, or having a conversation, and they hear an idea they recognize as familiar, they shut down. “Oh yeah. Got that already. ” But real fulfillment is in the currents of life, not in the intellectual categorization/“comprehension” of life. So when we shut down because we already “got” the idea, we starve ourselves for true nutrition. That’s why punditism can never fulfill us.

4. Beware of Punditism

BEWARE of excessive conceptualization. If understanding is what’s offered — without love — that in itself leaves a hollow leg. The satisfactions of deep understanding, as great as they can be, pale in comparison with the satisfactions of deep loving. So, instead of pursuing all the disintegrated knowing in the Marketplace of Babel, let's walk the love walk. It's in the heart.

5. Please Love Me Deeply, Truly

Why do I ask for deep and true love? Because everyone needs it, and because everyone needs to give it. And I know that my request will bring the issues to the fore. So I ask for it to remind you it is possible to love deeply and truly at will — if, that is, you are wise to ego’s tricks, and willing to do battle with it for the protection of what is good and true in you.

6. Give Up the Smiley-Face Life! You Can Do SO MUCH BETTER!

What is all the faddish ecstasy, and pseudo-enlightened talk? Who is everybody kidding? Better a real tear than a fake smile, don’t you agree? You’d think you died and went to real heaven (you know, the place where the angels sing — and weep). So let’s give up the smiley-face life. We can do so much better with TRUE heart.

7. Radha's Lullabies

Here are three exquisite dances by my friend Radha. The first two are lullabies; the third is an artistic video collage. All guaranteed to melt every heart.

8. Zaadzsters, I Bid You Fear Well

My early Zaadz saga, and why I almost left after less than a month here.

9. Okay, I Should Stay

A blog I wrote in response to community demand that I should stay.

10. Video Clips from a Few of My Talks

For your enjoyment and spiritual upliftment, here are some short video clips from a few of my talks.

11. In Honor of (disrespected) Men

While feminism has done much good, the gains have been made partly by robbing Peter to pay Pauline: we now exist in a climate of pervasive disrespect for males. Nobody talks about it; in fact, most people are still in denial about it. This blog is to change that.

12. Agape, Personal Love, & World Healing

When it comes to planetary healing, many people say universal love is the most important factor. Granted, we do well to radiate love worldwide. But it’s time to recognize that, while universal love (agape) is helpful, and even essential, it’s not enough. To be healed as an individual, one must be loved as an individual. Personally!

13. Individualism Equals Planetary Destruction

Distrust, unlove, and the resulting inability to join with others in cooperative living are the economic, social, and spiritual downfall of humanity today. Hopefully, you might say, when things get extremely bad, people finally decide to live differently. Perhaps that’s the most hopeful news about global warming. But must we wait until the eleventh hour and then cooperate out of fear and self-interest? Let us see the handwriting on the wall, and turn to each other in love and cooperation because we see the rightness of it.

14. To Fulfill Great Visions

As visionaries, we are responsible not just to acquire great and true visions, but to effectuate, insofar as possible, their realization and their fulfillment. And for that, we will require additional guidance, and more specific understanding.

15. Humanity Salvation and Humanity Ego

Who among us is willing to pay the real cost of a right and beautiful world? The real cost is unselfishness; real caring; true cooperation and self-sacrifice — in short, less ego.

16. This is What I Expect

This is a talk about how faith and expectations can create desirable outcomes. An interesting fact is the talk was recorded in 1983, and most of what I predicted in there has manifested in/as my life. In that sense, this is a powerful, more-than-theoretical testimony to the power of faith/expectation. (video, 36 min.)

17. Secrets of Divine Humanity

Commonly, we manifest our Divine goodness exclusively (or primarily) in high states, when it's natural to do so, but not in lower states, when it requires real intention. If we want to be able to be good for ourselves and others under all conditions, we have to choose to be good under all conditions. (video, 29 min.)

18. The Lessor of Two Weevils

We are GOD. People give a lot of lip service to that truth, but we weasel out of its realization with two contrary beliefs: One is, "I am not God, but just a lowly creature" The other is, "I am God, but I don’t know it." This weaseling has to stop. We need to Know better! (video, 38 min.)

19. The Spiritual Path of the Divine Feminine

Woman holds within Herself the power and motion of the Universe. It is up to each woman to awaken Her own power within Herself and experience that fullness, so that She can then heal and bless ALL — starting with Herself! — in innumerable ways, as appropriate.

20. God's Birthday Letter to Me

God loves YOU individually, personally, intimately — and finds every feature of YOUR unique self endearing. And even worthy of REVERENCE. How do I know? Because the birthday poem God gave me PROVES it.

21. In Defense of Polarity

I said in my profile, the greatest things of humanity can be found in the trash, where they were discarded. Polarity is one of these tossed treasures. Everywhere you look, you see a massive defection from true gender identity in both men and women. Gender polarity is a brilliant and gorgeous Divine creation and desperately needs to be retrieved!

22. Heaven's Missionaries are Here to Ascend You

There are many newly-incarnated enlightened beings on earth now who have come to help. But in trying to rescue us from the pain of egotism, they are at the same time PROMOTING a more “refined” form of egotism — by recommending the search for personal bliss. Love is a much better path.

23. How to Be a Full Blown Person

When you realize how many of your dreams have been fulfilled; when you realize that your heart wishes have been noticed and have been fulfilled in so many ways in this life; then you have the ability, through this noticing, to be satisfied. And, on that basis, live as a giver, not a beggar.

24. Celebrating Death

Death is much-misunderstood subject. Let’s take it seriously, but not too seriously. This bootleg video, captured over lunch at a restaurant, brings a daring, optimistic perspective to death and bereavement.

25. The Yoga of Love

Discipline has a lot to be said for it, but friends, if you want to order your life and focus your mind, love works much better than self-discipline. Love moves mountains; effort moves molehills. Effort overcomes some little challenges; love conquers all.

26. Being In Love, and Ego Reactions

In love, we always experience some soul overlap or blending. The ego fights back against this truly mystical experience by arousing fear: for example, fear of losing one’s center; fear of becoming dependent; fear of being ”polluted with another.” LET’S NOT feel so desperate to regain our so-called power and control. Let’s take control over ego from our higher spiritual position, so we can live deeply in love.

27. Uncreate Yourself

Our social-ego persona, the person we tend to think we are, gets in the way of sharing God’s love. For the sake of love, it’s crucial that each of us, as individuals, let go of persona and all self-beliefs. Then, as they arise again out of habit, let them go again. Then God can love through us.

28. What Is Commitment?

Without commitment, our relationships, our projects, and our aspirations are all subject to whimsy, and are therefore all on the endangered list. So, whatever we care about, we need to commit to. This blog breaks down commitment into its essential parts, and considers each part separately.

29. Teachings of David and Asha

This blog contains samples of my teachings, side by side with the teachings of Asha, my fellow teacher at the Living Love Fellowship. The selections cover a wide range of topics, some or all of which may interest you.

30. Burning God's (Social) Bridges

There is an insidious movement afoot, these days, towards social reduction: human relations and interdependencies of all kinds are disappearing! But the truth is, the loss of social means is spiritual suicide. We need to make those precious functions work correctly, instead of giving up on them. When we get them right, all will be blessed.

31. Save YourSelf—Abandon "yourself"!

Friends, we have created a terrible mess with our self-views. The "someone" we think we are creates infinite problems, and burdens us with endless limitations. Do not struggle with that mess any longer! It’s a mess we need to abandon — literally abandon it.

32. Divine Help and Divine Being

I asked Heaven about Divine intervention for change in human affairs. Channeled through one of the women in my community, I was answered by the Elohim, the wise and compassionate group of God-Beings that created the Universe, speaking in a united voice . The transcript of our conversation is presented here.

33. My Truth, Your Truth, Hitler's Truth, The Truth

A popular view is that each person has their own “truth,” and no one has the right to judge another person’s “truth.” In other words, there’s no such thing as an absolute, universal truth — nor is there an order of rightness in truths. This blog examines the errors and dangers of these widespread beliefs.

34. What Love Is!

What is love, really? Not in abstract terms, but what does it mean to truly love, to actually be a lover of human beings, to make a real difference to others? This blog contains two video clips from a talk, given April 25, 1997, that gives an answer to that question.

35. Mother Love, Father Love

Mother Love and Father Love work together in child rearing AND spiritual growth. When Mother says you are good, she’s saying you are essentially good and beautiful as you are. When Father says you are good, he means your adaptation to life is worthy of who you are. Currently, our culture is deficient in both Mother Love and Father Love, and they are out of balance. Hopefully, this blog will help correct that.

36. Heaven Loves and Serves You

We are not alone here on earth. Heaven loves us and takes care of us.

37. Almighty God, We Love You Back

Love and praise to Almighty God in poetry and songs.

38. Are the Zaadzsters Better than Jesus?

From the way Zaadzsters talk about unity, non-judgmentalness, and tolerance of all paths, you’d think they were holier than Jesus. This blog conducts a tongue-in-cheek competition between the Zaadzsters and Jesus to make a point about the dangers of applying spiritual ideas too narrowly — and self-righteously.

39. My Christmas Wishes for Humanity

Yes, friends, it’s that joyous time of year again — or so they say. But it’s also the season when Americans suffer the highest incidence of depression and suicide. This blog is dedicated to creating Holiday Seasons and New Years that are more joyous than ever!

40. Must We All Obey the Unwritten Rules for Luv-Lite?

A world culture of alienation has developed over the past few decades, and it now holds humanity in its grip. This article is a wake-up call about that, and the huge problem it represents. I don’t dare hope that we can change this trend in the world at large. But I hope you will rebel against it, and change it in yourself.

41. Save the Human Heart from Extinction

People like me, who live in community and who believe in human relationships, are dinosaurs, and we are as unpopular in today’s culture as Al Gore is with the Bush administration. And I am looking like a doomsayer to so many people because I say, “We are an endangered species as human hearts. And something BIG needs to be done to restore the habitat that is natural to our hearts and souls.” That big something is love, and forgiveness, and the positive experience of sustainable love. This is what we need. If anyone out there cares about the human heart, please give your friends a link to this video, and start this discussion rolling worldwide, so that people can realize how serious this problem is, and help do something about it.

42. Face the Ocean

Why is it so crucial to preserve the possibility of deep relationship, and save the human heart from extinction? Consider this four-minute clip from a conversation back in 1983, in which I described the experience of relationship as a profound and transformative confrontation with the Divine in human form.

43. The Worldwide Crisis of Global Chilling — and How to Stop It

The human heart is indeed an endangered species. Deep relating is rare indeed. Close intimacies are scarcer each year. And commitment — LOL! You may not notice the true magnitude of the problem until you step back, and look at the broader effects and tremendous human implications of what’s happening. I hope we can raise consciousness about the problem high enough so that people are finally moved to act.

44. How to Create Deeper Love

We all “know” that love can heal humanity and save the world. And many of us aspire to unconditional love, universal love. But honestly, how many people deserve to be called truly skilled in the art of loving? You could be one of the few! Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you have the will, this blog contains eight proven suggestions for a well-rounded program of healthy relationship exercise. Use them to become truly fit for love.

45. How the Power of Belief REALLY Works

This article is for everyone who wants to control the quality of their lives. It’s actually possible to do that — by controlling the quality of our beliefs. Those who understand the real power of belief and how to use it can harness that tremendous creative potential for the benefit of all. This article fills in the gaps in our understanding left by many popular teachings such as the Law of Attraction, etc.

46. Take Heaven's Hands

Few people know the reality of relationship to agents of heaven. We look at heavenly beings narrowly, as sources of information, or even of healing. But I’ll tell you truly: though the agents of heaven love to guide and heal, they love to love most of all. And they would much prefer to be real friends to people on earth. Yes! Friends to people like you and me. Believe me when I say, people can establish actual relationships with that which is beyond this world. Read what I have written here, and look at the evidence I’ve collected for this blog. It should be obvious, if you see and feel the videos presented here, that I, for one, have done exactly that. You can, too.

47. Freedom from Blame and Shame

When we know blame and shame are truly negative and destructive, why do we still indulge? Well, the embarrassing truth is, we actually think blame or shame offers us advantages we want. Before we will really give up shame and blame, we need a larger perspective, a deeper understanding of how our lives really work, and what blame and shame really do. To face that requires courage and strength of character. But here’s the thing: not facing it means pain all around. So if we’re serious about our smile, we’re truly much better off facing the real effects of blame and shame. It opens the door to liberation.

48. Heart of Heaven Dances

Two dances from the Heart of Heaven for You. (video)

49. Relating to Higher Consciousness

The fastest growth possible comes from relating to mentors and people of higher consciousness. Asha speaks about that in this talk. (video)

50. Getting Personal with God

God is personal, as well as impersonal, or transpersonal. And God will be personal with you, if you are personal with God. You'll find that relating personally to God is indescribably sweet, touching, beautiful, endearing. Try it!

51. Nobody Knows theTruffles I've Seen

An old spiritual song goes, “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus.” Well folks, that’s changed. These days, with communication being what it is, almost everybody knows the troubles that many people have seen — to the point of sinking the entire world in massive torment, pain, fear, upset, and depression. Now it’s time to change that, by sharing our “truffles” — the beauty that we’ve all seen and experienced — until it’s no longer true that “nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen.”

52. Skit Night at LLF

These photos catch the spirit of some recent skits we did here at the LLF.

53. Human Remains

What is a human being? A masterpiece of God, composed of various gorgeous Divine attributes. Unfortunately, most people hide their true beauty — and create a false persona in its place. The result? Precious little remains of the real human being. This video talk explains exactly how the true self gets lost, and how to retrieve it.

54. And the True Way IS ... Faith AND Good Works

Children of God are good and perfect as God created us; we don’t need to earn God’s love. If so, why bother to lead a good and righteous life? There’s nothing to prove, and nothing to gain.

Heaven wants us to know, there is a better reason to do good works than to “become a good person." This is it:

to live a life that fits a child of God — a life of love.

To manifest true goodness is the natural expression of every child of God. It comes from the spirit of love and obedience that is, itself, natural to every child of God. So,knowing we're good isn't the end of good works, but really, the beginning. When we believe we're already good and worthy of God's love, we want to do the good works that come naturally to one who really knows who they are.

55. Divine Oracle Training

An oracle serves both man and God by connecting them, and facilitating exceptionally clear communication. Note that the oracle function does not replace, but rather supplements, personal communication with God (which is, in most people, a bit fuzzy). Needless to say, we can use all the help we can get. With an oracle, Divine guidance is not only available, but generally, it is even comprehensible.

In traditional cultures, the sacred oracle function was highly valued, and the service of the oracle sought after. Unfortunately, in the modern western world, that function has fallen by the wayside -- even though it is needed as much as ever, perhaps more so.

To fill the need for more Divine connection through oracles, the LLF has established a training course for aspiring oracles.

56. Free the Free Horse: The Way Beyond Illusions

According to the spiritual traditions, we're living in a "world of illusions." But that means very little to most people. We don't see our illusions as such, and don't appreciate the terrible toll they take on our lives, our loves, and our relationship to God. This article reveals the truth about illusions, and how to get free of them.

57. Hallelujah! Six Hideous Belief Fads Are Dying!

Humanity has ever labored under many destructive fads of belief -- such as the value of getting what one wants, following one's whims, living for oneself, etc. These ugly values, crafted by ego and popularized in culture around the world, have tragically misled the children of God. But finally, a new day has dawned. Mankind stands to reap a happy harvest. Within the bitter fruits of selfish living is the most valuable lesson: that these ideas are WRONG; and selfishness DOESN'T WORK. So, join the evolution, and CELEBRATE!

58. Do You Accept Love?

There's not enough love in the world, but even so, the supply far exceeds the demand. That's right -- because people have become so jaded and distrusting these days, it's much easier to give love than to find someone who will DEEPLY accept it. Only if we will dare to be an exception, dare to accept love, can we pass a better world along to our children, and to everyone around us.

59. Being the One You Are

We are perfect, as God created us. So we don't need to be or become anything else. But, obviously, there's much more to LIVE.

What does it mean: "there's more"? It sounds like an invitation to seek, to improve, to evolve. But seeking only gets in the way, and truly prevents us ever "getting there." This article explains the true meaning of "there's more" and the true way to express infinitely more of who we are.

60. Ego-Chic Spirituality

You may meditate, use affirmations, know the Secret, consider yourself a Light Worker, but are you living a truly spiritual life? Not necessarily. Much of what passes as "spiritual" these days has been so infiltrated by ego that it's only superficially different from a "worldly" ego-driven life. In some ways, it's worse, because it's more deluded. This blog will open your eyes to the dangers of ego-chic spirituality.

61. The Light in the Middle of the Tunnel

Is enlightenment the light at the end of the tunnel? If that's so, we have a long way to go before we walk with God. But HEY! There's no NEED to wait. We can go through the "tunnel" of our lives, all our ups and downs, with God at our side every step of the way. God is HERE; and we can be with God NOW -- if we choose. Doing that is the biggest life improvement anyone can make.

62. Resolves & Resolutions

Spiritual life depends on the making and keeping of resolves, because that process has so much power to uplevel life. But since many of us have broken almost as many vows as we've made, now we're gun-shy about shooting for the stars. It's never to late to dust off our dreams! This article offers four simple tips to ensure success in making higher resolves, and keeping them.

63. Your Love Superpower

You have within you the most powerful, the most beloved, the most irresistible force in the Universe -- your love. If you can simply manage to not be cool, not be self-dependent, not be needless or heedless, you can use your love superpower to charm, to heal, to save everyone you touch. (video, 17 minutes)

64. The Way to Enlightened Bliss

Here is a short talk I gave a few days ago, containing simple, but very effective advice.

65. Chasmic Consciousness

Here is a videotaped conversation I had with a friend in 1982, about a subject that is just as current today. It's about the indivisibility of life, and our need to stop presuming separation, in order to rest in our native condition and awareness that we are one.

66. Love's a Game You Play to Lose

God's way is not for winners. It is the way in which weakness makes you strong; humility and service is dignified; heartbreak makes you whole; and to lose pride is to gain integrity. God's way is love -- and love is a game you play to lose with all you've got. If you are interested in true love, in which you GIVE everything of yourself, and GIVE UP everything of ego and pride, our this blog is for you.

67. Mind Magic for Change

As children of God, beautiful inspirations and positive life changes come naturally to us. But when we tune our minds to ego's lower frequencies, we resist our own beauty, and prevent it from manifesting in life. Eventually, we get discouraged, and feel like a good life is not possible for us.

Beauty and goodness are ALWAYS possible! Our hearts and souls are ALWAYS urging us to greatness, as God intended us to be. My newest blog will put you back in touch with the beauty within, and help you bring it out.

68. The Rise and Folly of Selfism

Devotion to self-interest has virtually become the universal religion: selfism. Most of the world's population are faithful members without even knowing it! This blog, "The Rise and Folly of Selfism," exposes this terrible trend. It describes how western psychology, feminism, the human potential movement, and pop spirituality all contributed to the rule of selfism on the planet, and the kinds of problems that have resulted.

The rescue of humanity from the clutches of selfism happens one person at a time. Read this blog, and find out how you and those you love can break free of it.

69. Cheap Love for Hungry Hearts

Tags: David Truman, love, relationship, God, agents of heaven, ego-transcendence, truth, humanity salvation, gender relationships

The Rise and Folly of Selfism

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:07:47 GMT

Look around. Can there be any doubt that selfishness has conquered this world and most of its people? Individualism has undermined cooperation and relationships -- even intimate relationships. Selfishness has even infiltrated and corrupted spirituality. (Spiritual methods to gain wealth and power, anyone?) Any honest person can see plenty wrong with that picture; perhaps, even, in their own life. Yet selfishness is going strong, leaving a trail of destruction wherever it goes.

All through the day
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All through the night
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Now they're frightened of leaving it
Everyone's weaving it,
Coming on strong all the time,
All through the day
I me mine.

-- George Harrison

The New Religion: Self

To properly talk about it, we need a name for it: selfism. As in words like Catholicism and existentialism, the suffix "ism" suggests that one gives great credence, almost worship, to a philosophy, an ideology. Selfism, then, is the worship of self, placing the self above all. The name fits the times, because devotion to self-interest has virtually become the universal religion.

This shocking conclusion is confirmed by the shockingly selfish ads we see these days. For example: "It's all about you" (Daytimer); "My Time, My Place, My Self" (on every page of a Soft Surroundings catalog); "Get your own box" (on every box of Cheez-It crackers). Entire generations of children have grown up believing that self comes first. "You have to live for yourself." "It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks." "Do your own thing." "You must love yourself before you can love anyone else." We hold these ideas as absolute truth. And even when the inevitable happens, and selfism ruins our lives, undermines our relationships, and obsoletes our highest ideals, we still bow down to the idol of self.

As you know, dogmas always tend to rule with an iron fist. The dogma of selfism is no exception. Try questioning anything a friend perceives as self-interest; see what happens. Remember: you are attacking his religion!

Though the tyranny of selfism is well entrenched, it can be overcome. Without a doubt, if the human heart thrives anywhere, it will be because selfism was overcome. But the overcoming of selfism can only happen one person at a time -- the same way humanity succumbed to it. So the most relevant question is this: Will you rise up, or will you live and die a slave to self and selfist ideology?

To understand your choices clearly, come with me now on a brief historic overview of this trend, and witness the way it has transformed spirituality in particular.

[NOTE: In reviewing recent fads of thought, I don't mean to suggest that selfism, in essence, is altogether new. Selfism must be as old as human life on earth. Nonetheless, because selfishness is weak and problematical, it is always failing, and therefore always needing to be re-invented. Consequently, each era has a new form of selfism -- an expression built with and for the vocabulary, mentality, and philosophical fashions of the day.]

The keystone of modern selfism: the psychological theory of individuation

Modern selfism derives much of its momentum from a twentieth century psychological theory called individuation. According to that theory, the child differentiates from its mother as a crucial step of human development. "Boundaries" of self become established; the child learns that it is distinct:different and separate. Until then, the child is not a fully-formed individual.

Psychologists often diagnose their adult patients as suffering from incomplete individuation. For example, many therapists presume that people who feel they care too much about the opinions of others, or about pleasing others, need to further individuate. By that standard, psychologists tend to consider a devoted wife or husband to be in need of professional psychological help with individuation.

Such persons, it is believed, have not established firm boundaries, and therefore cannot distinguish their own ideas from those of others. They bend too easily to influence; have difficulty setting limits and asserting individual will; and are easily taken advantage of. Psychologists and human potential trainers have encouraged such people to become extremely clear -- and assertive -- about where their boundaries are, what they like and don't like, who they are and are not, and so forth. Those popular methods have won many unwitting converts to the religion of selfism. But these converts are by no means "saved." The truth is: this focus on individuation is a slippery slope into unhealthy (excessive) individualism.

Artificial maturity

It is important to recognize that individuation as it is conventionally taught is not true individuation at all, but rather pseudo individuation: it is a set of modifications of thought and attitude which, taken together, produce artificial maturity. While the recommended behaviors -- defensiveness, self-assertion, limit-setting, self-expression -- supposedly represent healthy individuation, in reality, they are little more than compensation (ways to compensate for underlying insecurity). Those adaptations result from an aberrant idea of self, and from the presumed need to protect that aberrant self-idea from "assaults" by external forces -- especially, other people.

Clearly, people who depend on these techniques are far from healthy. They are nowhere near what Erich Fromm ("The Art of Loving") describes as therare achievement of true emotional maturity. A genuinely mature individual would not feel threatened by other people; would be able to accept and accommodate the needs of others; would be able to consider advice, receive feedback, and adjust accordingly -- all without feeling that sovereignty has been jeopardized. And, such an individual would also be capable of love.

Obviously, the achievement of genuine maturity is not something the psychological community can reliably offer its clients. Perhaps one often-overlooked reason is this: Full emotional/psychological maturity develops only in the context of love -- in a life where true, self-transcending love flows liberally both ways. Since therapists are generally incapable of meeting this standard themselves, they can't possibly help their clients achieve it. So they simply help their clients "more successfully" adjust to and cope with inadequate personal security, inadequate interpersonal trust, inadequate capacity to love, and the heartbreak of living that way in a society of similarly immature people.

In many ways, their clients were better off before. They were more truly mature and human when they were more "naïve," more self-sacrificing, more accepting, and more flexible. They were certainly emotionally and spiritually healthier when they cared about what other people thought, and how they affected others. Now, they are more paranoid, rigid, and subservient in blindly conforming to the dogma of pseudo-individuation. That is not progress. And guess what? They know it. "I don't like the person I'm becoming," people say.

Egoism is to blame

This is not a tale of an innocent public led astray by the psychological community and self-help professionals. As always, the public grants power to the leaders they want. We vote for those leaders with our time and our wallets. We vote by buying this book rather than that book, taking one type of therapy instead of another, attending only certain classes, etc. The populace wanted leadership that would support egoism, and they literally got what they paid for. So, while a therapist who required serious responsibility from his clients was lucky to have any clients, a therapist who colluded with his clients' victim-consciousness had people lining up around the block.

In response to popular demand, psychology and modern culture have simply done what ego always does: it twists any idea, any principle, any practice into destructive forms. Ego-minded psychologists and ego-minded clients, together, have taken the notion of individuation and run with the ball far in a destructive direction. Ego-minded women and their ego-minded feminist leaders did the same.

Confusing individuality and individualism

Part of how people went astray is by failing to adequately distinguish between individuality on the one hand, and individualISM on the other. The same may be said of selfhood and selfISM -- the distinction is not clearly held. Selfism has built its appeal on those confusions, with tragic results.

Since neither the general psychological community nor popular culture is making the discernment upon which healthy living depends, let's give it a go:

Individuality refers to self as a unique masterpiece of God -- a gift that will never be duplicated and cannot be lost. Nonetheless, it is clearly in the interests of egoism to claim that individualitycan be lost, so that vigilance is required to achieve, maintain, and protect one's selfhood.

Individualism, like selfism, implies intense devotion to an independent and separative mode of thinking, living, and being -- in order, presumably, to enhance and preserve one's precious-but-vulnerable individuality.

Self has become an obsession of the psychological community and its clients. And though psychology admits that excessive egoism is unhealthy, most of psychology's goals directly support and exacerbate egoism. Psychology is, in fact, a tool of egoism. Its founding fathers and mothers were plenty egocentric themselves. And now, for all intents and purposes, psychology has become the leading preacher of the gospel according to ego. Such is selfism. Click here to read more

Tags: selfism, egoism, psychology, self-improvement, personal power, spirituality, individuation

Mind Magic for Change

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:57:34 GMT

A talk given by David Truman on 4/12/09

"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
and stops my mind from wandering
where it will go"

-- The Beatles

Today we're going to talk about change, and how we use our minds to create either positive or negative change in our lives. And I'll be using some ideas from Jose Silva, the man who developed Silva Mind Training.

How change happens

Silva says, "Life does not happen to us, it happens through us." Our lives are first composed by us in our minds -- in our thoughts, visions, and beliefs. Then, we simply enact the script we've written for ourselves, and that creates our experience.

Silva further explains that there are three steps by which we create our lives:

Invision (as in inner vision, or envision): the thoughts and dreams that we formulate in our minds. It's like creating a blueprint for a house on paper before it is built.

Decision: the choice to either build or not build (do or not do) what one has conceived in the mind.

And finally,

Go-To: to go to manifest what that blueprint said, bring it to life.

So you have Invision (design in preview mode); Decision (yes or no; go or no-go); and Go-To (manifest, bring into life, implement, do).

Where positive and negative change come from

Of course, changes can be for the better or for the worse. We all know that. How many people have you heard say they wish they could be the same loving, trusting person they were ten years ago? Our lives can be a stairway to heaven, a slippery slope into pain and disappointment, or anything in between. It's all a matter of choice. And choice starts in the mind.

Changes for the better. Upward changes come from your heart, and from your soul. Your soul knows what is good and true, and what is truly best for you and for everyone. Therefore, upward changes come from following the natural inclinations, desires, and visions of your heart and soul. These natural inclinations keep bubbling inside you, no matter what course you follow in your life. Because of that, choices that grate against your soul nature will always bother you, however long you stick with them.

Your soul is constantly trying to manifest. It is impressing upon you from within your desires, visions, and fantasies. It is "nudging you to greatness," as Silva would say. In other words, your soul would have you be great, and manifest great things. Your soul would have you be beautiful. And its visions are about that. They are visions of loveliness -- your loveliness, to be exact. Your goodness, your beauty, your love, your native intelligence, etc. This is what yoursoul has in mind for you.

Changes for the worse. Downward changes come from egomind. Egomind is a reaction against the true beauty and intelligence that God created in human beings. Egomind opposes your soul's true desires, squelches your loving impulses, argues against your selfless inspirations, dims your intelligence, and mocks your spiritual wisdom. It calls love and risk dangerous, generosity unwise, and rightness hypocritical. When you heed the egomind, the result is downward changes. Downward changes are the manifestation of egomind's reactions to your own beauty.

Consider the source

When people want to make a major life decision, they will normally consult with someone, but they will choose their consultants according to what they wish to do. They already know who will approve their plan and who will disapprove it. If they want it disapproved, of course they will choose the consultant who will do that. And if they want it approved, they will choose the opposite type of consultant.

In our lives, we have to consult either egomind or spirit about our decisions. In either case, it's easy to predict what the answer will be.

If you asked McDonald's if they were in favor of building a Kentucky Fried Chicken on the same street, their answer would be no. And of course, that is a perfectly predictable answer. Consider the source. What else could McDonald's say, when the new KFC restaurant would directly compete with them?

Similarly, if we consult egomind, it will put the kibosh on all good things, and give approval to all bad things. Egomind will neverapprove of the spirit's plans and desires. It is inherently against the beauty that the soul would create. Therefore, to the extent that you allow egomind to rule, your spirit will be suppressed. Just as McDonald's will not build a Kentucky Fried Chicken, your ego will notbuild the beautiful world, life, and relationships that your heart and soul envision. Not ever. Only the spirit will do that.

There will never be a time when you can consult with your ordinary egomind, and get its permission to do what you truly need as a soul to be free and happy.

The only exception is when it's setting you up for a trick -- when it knows that it can send you in with sufficient unpreparedness and resistance to create a disaster out of your beloved dream. click here to read more

Tags: change, creation, mind training, success, manifestation, inspiration

Love's a Game You Play to Lose

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:57:13 GMT

Spiritually, most of you have gone just about as far as you can with the amount of surrender you've had to this point. You really need to be less self-centered. If you try to go any farther holding onto your present level of resistance, you're going to hit the wall and hurt your head. And you know that, too.

Heaven is for the pure. You have to give it up. You have to be straight up. The fogs and smoke screens you've used, habitually, to protect yourself -- those are incompatible with your present goals.

And love? Love is a game you play to lose with all you've got. You don't play it to win. You don't play it to look good. You play it to lose your heart, to lose your place, to lose your pride, lose your center, lose your mind -- everything. That's how the love game is played. It's not like any other game.

When you love, you sure don't play it to protect yourself. You play to make sure the other person wins with every hand. That's the difference between love and everything else.

I know what your real goal is; I know what you want: You want to give yourself. You want to be truly confessed. You want to lose face. You want to let go of every shred of decorum, politics, pride, and dignity, so as to be a lover for real.

But for that, you have to philosophically regroup. You have to realign your objectives. And you have to get up a little earlier in the morning to see the things you're putting in your own way or holding onto. You have to see where you're fighting yourself -- in those places where some of your objectives are opposed to others. Otherwise you'll continue in a battle with yourself, which is terrible and inefficient. You're stuck with intention/counter-intention. Without a doubt, a real lover doesn't have that battle going on.

Don't kid yourself

Don't kid yourself, and try to proceed with conflicting objectives. It's no use. All it does is create unnecessary problems. If you want what you really want, figure out how to align yourself behind a single purpose. About those intentions you're clinging to that are opposed to higher spiritual-emotional goals: you have to get rid of 'em. That's the only way to go. Anything less is to stay stuck.

What you want to achieve is a complete integration of self toward a single purpose: to lose. To lose face. That's the Way of Truth. God's Way.

God's Way is for the broken hearted. It isn't for the winners. God's collecting all the losers. Everyone else is fighting for survival. Trying to save face. Trying to cut a corner. You see. If you look at it very carefully you will see that I am telling you the absolute truth.

The "winners" and would-be winners are completely lost. They want to look good. They want to come out on top. They fight to survive, and for wealth, to be rich. They live for self, and when it comes to morality, they cut corners. That is exactly the course most people are following, religiously. They are doing what ego has in mind. Trying to win in that way. What's up with that? Down is up with that. Ego's agenda is in direct opposition to the Way of Truth, the Way of Undoing, the Way of Love. Absolute opposition. The followers of ego's little way will do hard time, and die imprisoned in smallness.

God collects the losers. Blessed are the poor in spirit -- [those who aren't living for ego] -- for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Well, that should be it. That's all you really need to know in life. If it has anything to do with love and truth. Anything worthwhile.

God's Way is the Way in which weakness makes you strong. It is the Way in which only service and emotional interdependence are dignified. It is the Way in which the last should be first. In God's Way, nothing but love and surrender make sense.

God's Way is the Way in which the last shall be first, he who loses himself shall find himself, and he who dies to himself is born again in the Spirit.

(these are metaphors; meant to be understood in spirit, not literally)

Only by humbling yourself can you be exalted.

Only by being the lowliest servant can you be great.

Only by losing your mind can you possibly have peace of mind.

Nothing but love makes sense.

Virtually every ordinary goal of human existence, if you pursue it vigorously, will ruin you.

Nothing but love makes sense.

The first are always last.

Nothing but love makes sense.

The love you take is equal to the love you make.

Nothing but love makes sense.

Heartbreak makes you whole.

Nothing but love makes sense.

The moment of losing face is the most dignified moment in a human life.

Nothing but love makes sense.

Self-denial produces spiritual wealth.

Only love makes sense.

The only way to win is to lose.

Nothing but love makes sense.

You look at your hand. Play your worst card.

Nothing but love makes sense.

Look at your feet. Put your worst foot forward.

Nothing but love makes sense.

The only way to be Godly is to be a slave.

Nothing but love makes sense.

Humility dignifies. Tears strengthen.

Nothing but love makes sense.

God's Way is that in which you could never possibly remember yourself except insofar as you forget yourself.

Nothing but love makes sense.

Spiritual maturity is in keeping with: unless you be as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Nothing but love makes sense.

And of course, you mustn't make anything grandiose out of this, because if you do that, you've lost the Way entirely. Instead, you must find infinite little ways to apply it. The left hand should not know what the right hand does. Almost never has spiritual life had anything to do with obvious heroism. Heroism is for earthly winners; the Kingdom of Heaven is for earthly losers.

And don't let the ego get a piece of even the littlest action, because it will dig its heels in where nobody thinks it matters. Ego takes over the kingdom because nobody expected it to come in that door, you see. So be smart. Stay awake. Be well-advised that spiritual peril or spiritual victory lies in attending to the smallest detail.

Confucius says, "The wise man, if given the opportunity to take one step forward, takes two steps backward." So:

Give yourself to anything your ego hates, and be undone.

The only happy ending is the ending of your ego and pride. There is no other happy ending. "It's a good day to die!" as the American Indian warrior, Crazy Horse, used to say.

That's it. I've said it. Truer words were never spoken. I wasn't willing to bullshit anybody this time.

You've got to celebrate your undoing. You've got to be very, very happy with your surrender. Absolutely, 100% sure about it. No ifs, ands, or buts. That's the ticket. Okay, that's impossible, but that's the challenge: to embrace that absolutely.

If someone says, "You're a liar and a cheat," tell them, "That's true, and that's not all."

If it looks like you might fall, ask, "Can you kindly move that mattress out of the way?"

If it looks like almost everything's going wrong, ask, "What's left?"

Now those are good questions. Infinitely better than the kind of questions people generally ask.

An enlightenable mind says,

"I could win on this move -- what's the alternative?"

"I could live through this -- give me another choice."

"I could look good here -- is there anything I can do about that?"

"I can keep it together -- can that be fixed?"

Such a mind shows consistent appreciation of the value of losing, an unerring homing instinct. True appreciation. The crest jewel of existence. To lose!

You can appreciate the real value of these statements the moment you understand that ego-driven life is only for a complete death-bound fool.

Tags: love, spirit, surrender, heaven, lose face

Chasmic Consciousness

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:06:58 GMT

Click here for audio only mp3

Transcript

David: I notice that everybody seems to be concerned about this problem of being separate from other people, separate and different. But you've got to reconsider that notion, because it is a notion, and as long as you sit there and believe that about yourself, that you are separate from other people, that will be your experience. But, the circle that you think is drawn around you, that you think separates you from everybody else, is not there. There is no such circle -- it's a figment of your imagination. There is no such distinction, or separation.

In your growing maturity, it should be evident to you that everybody is the same. Everybody is the same. The same, not similar. I've got people imagining themselves to be different, and separated, and squinting at each other as if through so many pairs of binoculars, and acting and believing as if they were, perhaps, digging through, picking through, some imaginary concrete wall, like an inmate in a dramatic movie, with a spoon -- trying to get through this imaginary wall to other people, to talk to other people, to make communications to other people, to feel similar to other people, to anything with other people.

It's all hokum; it's all bullshit. It's not happening that way. There is no such wall. There is no such distinction. You have to look at these people very carefully and recognize the fact that they are identical to oneself. They are human beings. They are floating in this one consciousness that you yourself represent. They are connected to you in ways that are completely incontrovertible, that make for a kind of communication and transference that even exceeds your own imagination.

People, in effect, are standing there yelling at each other, trying to bridge this chasm or this imaginary wall between each other, without recognizing the relatively obvious fact that even the most subtle psychic communication is passing between you all the time. You don't have to yell. You don't even have to speak. You are in such communication with people that the slightest nuance of your thought communicates itself right away. There is no difference between you and them. There is no wall at all.

Q: But, I was talking about the fact that people have different functions and were being more useful and stuff.

David: Right. Well, I'm talking about the fact that people need to recognize that they're all the same, regardless of their functions. Regardless. Regardless of the apparent differences, you are the same as these people, and you are either reacting about the differences, or else you recognize that you are the same. And you cannot do both things simultaneously. You will either, at any instant, react to the differences, or you will be recognizing the sameness. Not both.

When are you going to realize the sameness? When are you going to be trying to get across this chasm that separates you from other individuals, or distinguishes you?

Everybody is telling me, essentially, about the differences between themselves and other people. I don't understand how it is escaping your attention that you are, in fact, identical to these other people as well, and perhaps more so, and more fundamentally so.

What about that? No one seems to be calling that to my attention. And no one seems to be putting their own attention on that fact. Do you know what I mean?

Q: Yeah.

David: So people sit there and yell across a two-foot chasm that separates them from people, or appears to. Actually it doesn't, and it isn't even two feet. You're having the experience of yelling at somebody as if they are hard of hearing, who is not hard of hearing. That's what it's like.

Have you ever gone up to an old person, whom you presumed was hard of hearing, and yelled in their ear, only to have them jump three feet in the air? That's the experience people have in trying to communicate so vigorously across this imagined canyon, or though this imagined impediment or obstruction.

You sit there and yell; you yell at a person who is right in front of your face, and you scare them. Why? Because their hearing is so excellent. Because their sensitivity is so profound. Because their nearness to you is far greater than what you imagine. What people are experiencing is not so much the reaction to being chastened, but the reaction to being presumed to be so separate and different from oneself. The implication that they are that far away hurts their feelings. It enforces the logic of separation in them, which is painful; and it creates suffering for them to experience it, or to have it be enforced in them that they are separate, or that you believe they are.

They desire the news and information that they are not separate, and not distant. And that is the truth, so you might as well offer them the truth as news, and not this thing that reinforces suffering.

And there are so many ways in which people try to get across the chasm, once they imagine it. And I want to address that on this tape, because those ways of trying to get across the chasm are precisely the same means in which one fails to recognize the true situation. Just like, if you yell at somebody you separate yourself from them, if you talk in too loud a voice for someone and they're only sitting right in front of you, they will start to move across the room, backwards, until their distance from you is appropriate for the level that you're yelling at.

So the best thing is to speak, essentially, in a whisper; but this is metaphor, this is not to be taken literally. This is metaphor. You know what I mean? Take this metaphorically: Do not make the presumption that the person is so distant, and you will not have to deal with them backing up. You know what I mean?

And people do this in ways that often escape attention. For example, you may want to love someone, and so you may embark on a strategy of gazing lovingly at them across the chasm -- across the chasm of the room, of the space that you believe separates you physically -- which has precisely the same effect as if you were to yell at them; because the harder you try to stare across the chasm, the more they get the feeling they must be far away, and the more you get the feeling. You are creating a feeling by doing these things to bridge it, which is an illusion.

It's a self-fulfilling effort. You try real hard to communicate to somebody, and the harder you try, the less you can communicate, because they back up. You try real hard to love someone, and the harder you try to love them, the less you can love them, because you reinforce the distance between the two of you. All this goo-goo eyes and hippie gazing, and so forth, reinforces separation as much as anything else, because the presumption is that I am trying to vibe across this chasm with all this good vibe. And why should I vibe across anything, unless there was a problem? Unless there was, in fact, a chasm, why would I be trying to get across it?

The recognition of the individuals who have studied the matter of existence carefully is that there is no chasm. That is conclusive. That is universal. That is the conclusion of all the saints and sages throughout history. All men and women of wisdom.

Love is not getting across a chasm. Love is being identical and being identically with what is across the chasm. It is not a matter of trying to get across anything; it's a matter of being across. That person that you're trying to get across to, vibe at, or yell at, whatever your strategy is, is already where you are, and you are already where they are. You don't have to get across. You were born bigger than you think, is what I mean by all of this.

Q: In other words, you're saying that because I was earlier trying to define myself as certain functions, then that's not me, and I was upset because I thought is was me.

David: No, I wasn't saying that. I was addressing something fundamental behind all this, which is this presumption of separation -- that you must deal with. It's not this matter of functions and so forth. Let's not talk about it. Let's talk about the truth.

The truth is that you are not separate from people. That's the truth. And you are not different. It's one and the same truth: You are not separate and you are not different. If you are not separate, you couldn't possibly be different, because you are one and the same body.

These people that we assume to be so different and so separate are imbued with the same one single consciousness that we are, a single one. They are experiencing the same consciousness. They are living in the same light. They are breathing the same air. They are the same being extended into many bodies. They are not different. And they are not anywhere else. They are not anywhere where you are not. Across the room is not where you are not.

You are across the room, and you are sitting in the other chair, and you have to deal on it at this level for it to be meaningful. If we were to deal with it on the level of problem, of course, we would not find a solution, but to deal with it on the level that the solution lies, is intelligent -- will work. If you hear it.

The fact is, those beings are not across anything from you -- or if you prefer, you are already across, and you have to realize it. But when you are doing things designed to get across, it gives you the very distinct impression that you are not across. The problem that human beings experience is that they are always trying to get across. And you've had this experience, talking to anyone you know. This is a very mundane example of this: When someone has, at one time or another, tried very hard to get across to you, trying to get this message to you, and so forth. And they're really getting on it; they're going to get across to you if it kills both of you, you know.

Q: They're trying to get some point across to you.

David: The harder they try, the more you really begin to feel that they are not getting across, or that they are not across, or that for some reason, you are so different and distinct that it is an absolutely hopeless situation. Many people have had this experience. Someone comes up to you with a presumption that they are not going to be able to tell you what they're about to tell you; that it's not going to work. And because they think it's such a high degree of difficulty, they try extra hard. And they may yell, or they might start doing something tremendously elaborate and labored. It's not going to work.

I can undo this whole experience in a minute, by saying: "You are already across. You already know what it is that I have to say to you. And we are inseparable. Not only are we not separate, but we cannot be separated." That undoes and accounts for the entire problem. And all the efforts of existence that people make are efforts to get across some imagined barrier, and they create the barrier.

So, what I'm telling people about spiritual evolution, not only about the matter of relating to other people, but about getting across to anything -- getting across to God, getting across to the universe, getting across to things, getting across to the real world -- getting across to anything, anywhere, anytime, is not necessary.

It is redundancy. A person is trying to recreate what has already been done, and in the process, not do it. For example: if there is a wall right over here, right behind me, which there is, if I was to come up there and commence starting building a wall exactly where that wall is, it would be the same as destroying the existing wall. There is no way, repeat, no way, that I could try to build a wall where a wall already stands, without destroying it. And this is what people do. They bring down the first two by four and try to force it against the space where the wall is, to try to build a wall there, because they do not believe there is a wall there, in effect, you see. In other words, people try to do something that has already been done, and therefore they run into incredible difficulty, because that function has already been performed and cannot be re-performed without undoing it first.

Therefore, if you are not separate from a person, and then you try to mend it, the first thing you have to do is break it. If I want to build a wall where this wall is, the first thing I am going to have to do is tear down the existing wall. And people will recognize that this is exactly what is happening in their consciousness.

First they are breaking, in their own imaginations -- they are not really doing it, it cannot be done, but in their imaginations (imaginations run wild, you know); and in people's fanciful imagination, they imagine that they are separate from each other, and then go about trying to fix it. That's exactly what people do. But in their imaginations, they have torn down the unity, and then are working on rebuilding it.

Tearing down the unity was our first mistake. Not only first, but only, and last. There is no disunity, and you cannot create unity where there is unity, because why? Because unity has already been created. It's redundancy. You would be doing something redundant if you were trying to get across. You would be doing something redundant if you were trying to recognize or feel some similarity with someone, or try to grasp where they were coming from, or try to reach a sense of unity or understanding with the being. It would be redundant. And it would necessitate the destruction of all that is true to do it, or to attempt to do it, only to recognize that it cannot be done, because it's complete.

The universe, the dimension of consciousness, the wholeness of things, is finished, and it was finished before you were a gleam in your momma's eye. Therefore, to try to create it now is redundant and unnecessary.

Q: But there is this problem of not feeling that.

David: There is that problem. Therefore, how are you going to feel something is the question, and the answer is, by not doing anything.

Q: About the feeling of separateness?

David: Uh huh. By not continuing to fantasize separation and then fantasize that I have the ability to mend this, or that I am working on this great long project of mending it, like a convict trying to get out of a two-foot cement wall with his spoon, day by day. You cannot do that. Every instant of trying to mend it is an instant of creating it.

The position to be in, in this world, is not the position of a seeker. The position to be in is the position of a realizer, a finder, an aware one. If you sit back in your consciousness, rather than trying to fix things; if you simply sit back in the ocean of consciousness that is what you call your awareness; if you sit in it, you will realize the way things are. You will, immediately.

It's the effort that beings make that creates this chasm; just like when you're yelling, people back up. When you effort at existence, the whole world appears, to you, to back up. Even God seems to back away to a great distance. You know, what people conceive of as the omnipresent God -- even in the traditional theology of Christianity and so forth, God is said to be omnipresent -- and yet people pray to God in such a manner as if: (1) He's never going to hear this shit and (2) He must be a million miles away. He must be on the moon. They are praying to Him with such an attitude and such a conviction that He is never going to hear this, and He must be a million miles away. He appears to back up. He appears to get farther and farther away, the more you think about it, until finally, when you are there in your prayer room, you have essentially banished Him to the far corners of the universe, as far as you're concerned. He couldn't be any more distant, unavailable, unreachable, incommunicado, than what you could imagine by trying so hard to get His attention. And by trying to do anything, you undo everything. And if you were to sit there and appreciate what is happening, you would appreciate it very much. But instead of that, you're trying to fix it.

Q: Is that the difference between you and us, then? That you don't feel the need to fix anything?

David: My experience of what loving is, is not to get across. My experience of what loving is, is that I am across. I am over there. I am. The beings that I see and deal with, and so forth, are identical to myself. They are identical. And they are not separate. It's my experience.

I can sit, and the more I relax, and the less I try to make up for anything that I imagine, the more it becomes apparent that, in fact, the beings that I associate with are identical and non-separate, and there is no chasm. My observation is, I exist in every molecule of the chasm, and on the other side. Which is, there is no chasm; that means there is no chasm. That's what it means. There is no boundary, separation, limit, between me and other people. There is no wall. You can put down your spoon. You don't have to get through it if it's not there. You don't have to get across, if you are across, and you are. You are across.

These beings are so attuned to you, so identical to you, they are the same one. And it doesn't matter that they don't know it. It doesn't matter that they forget. That's not a problem, compared to the recognition that they are the same. The recognition that they are the same is a healing thing, whereas the imaginary insistence that they are different is divisive. So, it's best to leave go of the imagination, and also leave go of all the efforts that are based on this imagination, and see what is happening. See that these beings react to your most subtle nuance of consciousness; that your communication is perfect. Perfect. It is perfect.

Q: You need to explain that. I don't understand it. You're talking about the psychic realm?

David: Yes. In the world of the mind, the mind is not a physical organ the way people think; the mind is not five or six pounds of soft, gray, spongy material. The mind is an ocean; it extends in all directions far. Farther than you can imagine.

And you and the other person have the same mind. You share it. It is like a computer time-sharing device, in which you have two terminals, but one computer. You are accessing the same consciousness, the same problem-solving mind, the same awareness is what you share. The awareness with which you are aware of them is precisely the same awareness with which they are aware of you.

There is one awareness. There is one consciousness and there is one mind. And that mind is you, and it's them, and it's one. Therefore you are the same as them. You share a mind. It's only the body that creates this problem that people identify with this distance. But, the minds are one, and you will notice many proofs of it when you get close to people, and you start noticing the dynamics of a group.

You will notice instantly that every being is fundamentally aware and reacting to the psychic impulses of all others. It is as if there is one head, and many bodies. And in that one head, in any room, situation, group, or meeting between two or more individuals, there is this one reaction. Every psychic nuance that you put out creates some kind of a ripple though all the beings present. They react most subtlety. And so there is always this funny game that is played where, on the one hand, people are yelling at each other as if they were at a great distance; on the other hand, even the thought that the other person is thinking, they are responding to psychically, immediately. You will notice that every thought, and every movement and every nuance, they react to instantly, in a very subtle way, if you notice what is true.

It takes subtlety to notice what is true, but this is happening. Everything you think puts them through a change. Everything they think puts you through one. You don't miss anything. You react, however unconsciously, subconsciously, to every thought that they experience, and even every bodily sensation. You experience their discomfort every time they shift. And even prior to the shifting, you are experiencing it. All the physical and mental sensations that they have, you share. And that is the nature of your psychic connection. That is the proof of it. If you pay attention, it is that way in every room.

What is this awkwardness that sometimes happens in a room? It is this psychic communication that all the beings are sharing. They are beginning to feel this subtle disturbance from one or more of the beings, and everyone shares it, and everyone begins to respond to it. Not a word has to be said for that to occur. It happens wordlessly. It happens without any yelling or passing of notes. It happens mysteriously in the unity of this one computer. That's the proof. You are one mind.

Q: That's true. I know what you're talking about, about feeling everybody and feeling that there's something the whole room knows about.

David: Everybody feels everything! In this whole life of trying to get free, the only problem is trying to get free. In a whole life of tying to get across, the only problem is the trying, the effort at it. That is the obstruction. Trying to build this wall back here is my problem, if this wall exists.

Q: You're saying, then, that relaxing and accepting things the way they are is what it's about.

David: Right. It is.

Everyone always wants to fix everything, but nobody knows what it is they're fixing. The reason they don't know what it is they're fixing is because they have always been busy and they've never paid it any attention -- or at least not enough attention to find out what the situation is.

So therefore, you have all these people trying to build a wall where there is a wall, or breach a chasm that doesn't exist. Do something that is a figment of their imagination which cannot be done because it's already done. What I'm trying to point out to people these days is that your activity is your suffering, and every form that your activity takes is remedial. When you recognize your striving, your seeking, for what it is, you'll see that it is all, in fact, remedial. It is all an effort to make up for something, and in particular what it is an effort to make for, absolutely and simply, is separation. And yet, you have too many efforts and too many strategies, and not enough attention. Too many devices and too many distractions, all designed to remedy something. But there is no remedy for what is fixed and what is well; that's why life can't be fixed -- because life is well in itself, prior to these efforts, and only ill after you've gotten there and started to work on it. And the very instant that you relax your effort to work on it, you begin to see it for what it really is, and what it has always been, and will never be other than.

It will never be other than fixed. It will never be other than perfect, in spite of your best efforts to fix it. The best you can do is to make appear to yourself, and perhaps others, that it is not perfect, which is very different than making it not perfect. It cannot be made not perfect. And it cannot be made not whole. You cannot unconnect from those people, and therefore it's meaningless to try hard to connect! You see, if people could sit in the room and not feel the ambient awkwardness, that would mean that it was appropriate to try to re-unify, to try to fix the unconnectedness of things. Wouldn't it? But because they cannot sit there, and not experience this psychic unity, and not feel everything that comes down in the room, there is nothing to fix, and there is no chasm.

Q: Right.

David: This is one being. One, inseparable, indivisible, in God. And it's not to be imagined otherwise, or worked on. God, happiness, realization, relaxation, peace of mind, enjoyment, pleasure, and security, all depend on you stopping what you're doing. Love, human relationships, the unity of you and others, depend entirely and exclusively upon your not trying to get any closer. Joy, freedom, depend entirely upon you not assuming anything different. They will not ever be the result of your efforts, but only the result of cessation of your efforts. And when you cease your efforts, you will begin to see that things are not broken, have not been, and will not be, ever.

Consciousness was fixed before you were born. Love was made true by the fact that you are inseparable from all other beings before you try to get to be a loving person. Love is not efforting at getting across a chasm at all. Love is the tacit recognition of the fact that there is no chasm to get across. The more I feel, the more I recognize that nothing needs to be added, the more I sit back in myself, the more it becomes apparent that everything, in fact, is finished.

Now once you have that assumption, it doesn't mean that you can't act; in fact it means that you can act very effectively. But you don't have to act in a compensatory manner, remedial manner.

Q: Right. You are saying, you can be active in life, but not because you feel inadequate and separate from beings, and therefore you're doing everything because you feel separate, and you don't want to be.

David: Right. You can sit back and experience the good news of the way things are, and then you can become active to share it, and not to reinforce or propagate the bad news of your imagination, which is paranoid, you see. Paranoid, illusory, deluded in itself, invariably. Even such a humble effort as to think about everything as the means to figure it out. Everything is prefigured. Everything is known by the people who are willing to relax the process of trying to figure it out.

And in the thought world, the same thing applies: the more you think, the further you push the solution from yourself. You are, in effect, yelling at the solution by thinking so hard, "Where are you?" Then, when you start to yell at it and make this presumption, it moves away, apparently, to you; this is your experience of it. And the more you think, the less available it seems. The less you think, the more it comes to you, like a fawn coming at you to lie down by you.

You cannot yell at fawns, any more than you can yell at truth, God, or other beings. If you sit there and make your peace, and live harmoniously in the forest as a quiet being, all the wildlife will come up to you and sit on your knee. If you rant and rave, and scream at them, and experience your frustration, and communicate your dis-ease that they won't come to you, they will not. You just have to sit quietly, and everything will come to you.

And this is not a technique -- far be this from a technique. An awareness is not a technique. Awareness is not a form of staring or trying hard. Awareness is something that you were born with, that you cannot get away from, that was completely given to you from time immemorial, to experience. It is very simple.

Awareness is not even an experience; awareness is your native condition. You are aware. And if you were simply to be what you were born as, you would realize everything instantly; it would all come to you. But because you're trying so hard to go to it, it appears to be backing up and going away. Do nothing, think nothing, attempt nothing, figure nothing, compute nothing, love nothing, and be those things, and you will then understand, love, have, be, everything that is true, finished, and appropriate, and everyone will experience it in your company.

I think that about says it. That's the Way of Not Doing. Time is very short in this lifetime, the way we experience it, and people are wasting it by trying, when they should just be being. We've got too many toys and too little time, too many distractions, too many projects, and too little time.

The only proper use of time is to quit. The only means to know is to relax. The only means to love is to be across the chasm. The only way to be across it is to quit trying to get across.

The life of seeking is an endless abortion. The life of attempting is self-defeating. The life of thinking excludes knowing perfectly. The life of relaxing accomplishes everything. Relax, relax, relax. Sit in your native condition. Be as you actually are, without thinking about it, without thinking who you are, without trying to create who you are. And recognize that you've already been created, and so has your enlightenment.

Your enlightenment is your native condition. It is closer to you than your eyebrow. That's the way things are, and will always be, and always have been. Before the beginning of time.

Tags: psychic connection, oneness, illusion, consciousness, seeking, enlightenment, God

The Way to Enlightened Bliss

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:42:13 GMT

Here is a short talk I gave a few days ago, containing simple, but very effective advice.

Click here for audio only mp3

Transcript

David: I really thought of an extremely cheap way to enlightened bliss, and that is: monitoring thoughts and attitudes that come across the mind-screen. Cause I got that all the things that happen are coming out of this, essentially, subjectively. In other words, what happens that matters is mostly either in here, or it’s being generated out of “in here.” And so therefore, if a person has the presence of mind to think about this thought and go, “What is the implications of this thought?” why then, that would be it, essentially.

Mati: That’s true. Right.

David: I mean really. Because there are two things that you can get out of that: One is, you can cut off the things that hurt. The other is, you could emphasize and cultivate the things that help. Somewhere between eliminating the hurt and accentuating the help would be an absolute revolution in the experience we call living.

That’s it.

Group: (claps) Wow. Thank you.

Jay: This is our experience.

David: This is. It’s the cause of it. Yes.

Pada: Yeah it is. So simple.

David: Well, that really IS it.

Jay: That really is it.

David: Thank you.

Group: Thank you.

Tags: bliss, enlightenment, causation, mental discipline, attitudes, subjectivity

Your Love Superpower

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:38:31 GMT

Dear Friends,

This life that you live, this person you believe that you are -- it is not you. Obviously not. You are NOT the fear, the limitations. You are not the one who is insincere and insecure, the one who judges this and that.

You are the true one, the beautiful one, the one who feels. You are the one who would have all, and give all.

You are God’s child, and God as well. You are the savior of men, the lover of humanity.

So friends, live from your hearts, as your hearts. Live as the love you know is true of you. Do this, and all you see will be pleased, and all you touch will be healed.

Thank you for your love,

David

Transcript:

David: I just wanted to put a very brief message about love onto the video, in your hearts, and so forth.

You have something there in your love that is a very powerful thing. It actually has some remarkable abilities which you have no doubt noticed. Now. I’m not talking about the things that are confused with it. I’m not talking about the insecurity that can be added, other things. But the love itself is a very powerful thing. It is more powerful, I believe, than anything else. And it is the Crest Jewel of the Universe. This thing that you have is that. You have in you this most powerful, most beloved force of supernature, of Divine nature, of human nature, of all nature. You should know that nothing comes close to that power that you have. That you could fill out a great deal of paperwork. You could launch some very unsavory complaints. You could be bitter and wait. You could do many many things, and there is an infinitude of things that one could do. But none of them has a thousandth of the power of the love that you have and which you can employ and deploy as you will. There is nothing that exists that can resist it. Mind you, I put a qualifier in there. Did you notice it?

Sara: “That exists.”

David: Yeah. Within that set, you are omnipotent in your loving.

And don’t get me wrong, when I spoke about complaining, I did not mean that you cannot complain. Lovers enjoy complaining and being complained to, very well. You just have only to complain with love in your heart. Which goes to show, the original premise is true. Love is what is the superpower. You see? And all the actions pro or con, high or low, whatever strategies are employed or deployed, none of them really make a difference except insofar as you love. Love makes all the difference in the world, all the difference in any world. All the difference in no world.

For example, you could be bollixed up, upside down in your yoga. You could be in Nirvakalpa Samadhi, pinballing in universes unknown. Right? But if, in the middle of your wild ride, you love, then everything will come to you. Everything will respond to you where you are, as you are, anytime, anyplace. Your love has done this thing. It has erased everything else. It implemented a solution that pre-exists and post-exists everything that can be happening.

For example, that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” song of The Beatles. When that song was born in someone’s mind, that little riff, it was all accomplished: what The Beatles were to be, became. There was nothing at any age or nature that could resist that tune. It didn’t even need to be written, or sung, or recorded, or distributed, or anything. It simply was the super, superpower. You see?

So it goes to show how little you really have to do. Because you have this superpower in your heart, you have nothing to do but . . . and then everything has responded to you. You see? It’s very important.

And you can trade this thing for things, wherever you go. You might go to one of those places where they have all the different droids and other types of animals that go back and forth across space and they meet at this seedy bar. All very strange forms. Speaking different languages. Some less dangerous than others. But if you loved, you would have tamed it. If you would love, you would have a universal solvent. The situations would all be rendered.

It all comes to you because of your love, you see. You don’t need to go to it exactly. Except in your heart. That you have the presence of mind, the presence of love, just to be able to have a sentiment of recollection. Sympathy, enjoyment. A non-othering sentiment. Desire, attachment, perfection, love.

Your emergency beacon. You can activate this, anytime, and charm everything. Not the least of which is God Almighty. Very sensitive, that One.

So you turn on your EPIRB*, your emergency beacon—Love. And suddenly, the doors open, and you seem to be past the security man, past the magnetron, past the secretary. In the Oval Office, in a direct conference with the Big Guy. All because you activated your EPIRB, your heart beacon, see.

It’s just the failure to be cool, is all it takes. Can you manage that? Can you manage not to be cool, not to be okay, not to be “I’m all right, Jack,” not to be self-dependent, not to be needless or heedless? Can you manage that? See? If you can manage one out of five of these things, you’re in. And you get 100 on the quiz. That’s because even a corner of this particular Platinum Card is worth a whole card. You know: You can chop the worm into a lot of little sections, and what do you get? Lots of worms. There is no order of miracles. There is no different loves. See? Innocence. It is all the omni-power. Perfect. Invincible. Yours. Your essential being.

I said to Jesus, I said, “Jesus, I feel like a Bronx cabbie. You know, who careens around the dark canyons of Manhattan, enough to pay for a dive. And somebody left in the back a three-pound diamond. The Hope Diamond. Price? Unthinkable. Priceless. Immeasurable. Ya know. In a brown paper bag on the floor. What are you going to do? You’re infinitely wealthy. It obviously had your name on it. Someone left it there. ‘Madam, it’s yours.’” You know. That is your love. You found this kicking around the back of your taxi. You found it on the street. You know.

You go to the bank. They have only these fantastic things with a million lasers and an incredible door. Right? Big hinges. Fantastic, shiny. Shiny, shiny. So you go, “How stupid are they at this place?” And you reach up above the top of the molding. And a key! Ha! They left it there in case they lost theirs. You go in. You’ve got all the diamonds and money. My, my, my! How stupid can people be?

It’s just one of those things, this love. You just gotta feel around on top of the transom. Sure enough, they left it there. Yeah, they had no idea how bright you are. That’s it.

Except it was no accident.

*Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons

Tags: love, power, God, healing, Divinity, humanity

Resolves and Resolutions

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:38:55 GMT

How many New Years resolutions are kept? Probably not many. And most likely, the track record for the resolves we make at other times throughout the year isn't much better. So naturally, we get more jaded about making and breaking resolves with each passing year.

Of course it's demoralizing to make and break vows. No wonder we feel like giving up on resolves altogether, saying, "I know myself well enough to know that I won't keep my resolves. Why set myself up for disappointment? I won't suffer the pain of breaking resolutions if I don't make any." Fair enough! But do you know yourself well enough to know that NONE of that sits well with you?

Since it doesn't, rather than fear that cycle, maybe we need to fix it. Surely, the ability to set and achieve goals is too important -- not just on New Years, but all year long, in all parts of life -- to throw away lightly.

No matter how many resolves we've made and broken, our ability to make and keep resolves is still alive and well. We just need to understand and direct it better.

Look at these two facts:

1. The decision to "make no resolves" is a resolve. We're always making resolves, just as we are always choosing. Since we have the power to choose better, why not use it? Could it be that we fall for this trap:

Ego's limiting assertion: "You can choose anything you want -- UNLESS it's a choice for the better."

Ego has an insidious way of chopping people down over time. Whenever we find a flaw or weakness in ourselves, ego tries to convince us to accept the shortcoming as permanent, irreversible -- a limitation we're supposed to learn to live within. That way, through one reductive cycle of acceptance after another, the ego gets us to feel less and less functional as time goes on. One day, we just might give up on being a nice person altogether. Is that why Granny got so grouchy?

Beware of the limbo dance. The lower we set our sights, the longer it takes to get back to the higher values upon which our well-being depends. That's why lowering the bar puts us in limbo until we raise it back up again.

2. The resolve to make no resolves is actually a thinly-disguised choice to avoid higher choices -- ostensibly for the purpose of avoiding disappointment. But, to limit oneself to lower choices is, in itself, the world's greatest disappointment. What's more, it's downright disempowering. It denies our ability to make the higher choices upon which our greater happiness depends. Horrors!

We have no need to take the ego's advice -- and choose to confine ourselves to LOWER choices. We absolutely can choose anew --freely. That's what spiritual evolution is all about! We need to stick to our guns:

Spirit's response to ego's limiting assertion: "Oh yeah? Free will is God's greatest gift to us: It's a power that we always have, and always USE. Free will means we can choose ANYTHING -- including for the better.

As God's children, we all have an appointment with God -- with our own higher destiny. There's no disappointment greater than "not being able" to keep that eternal appointment. We may as well acknowledge that only better choices can give us the satisfaction we want. The only way to truly avoid disappointment is to pursue higher aspirations, embrace improved actions, and make better presumptions.

We can hold true to higher choices, and keep higher resolves. And spiritually, we certainly need that "win" -- and always will. Here are four tips to ensure your success in making higher resolves, and keeping them. Click here to read the four tips

Tags: New Years resolutions, goals, choices, freedom, values, goodness

The Light in the Middle of the Tunnel

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:00:54 GMT

Friends, God is the light in the middle of the tunnel. Right here, in the middle of life's tunnel, we can find God, and God-consciousness.

Unfortunately, human beings tend to ignore God when they are in the middle of the tunnel -- or in the middle of anything. And this ignoring has the terrible consequence of alienating us from God.

Each and every one of us has a choice to make:

We can be there in our bummers -- that is to say, our lives -- WITHOUT God.

Or,

We can go through the tunnel with God at our side every step of the way.

That's the choice. God knows which choice would feel best, and so do you.

The hugest life improvement any human being can ever make is to be close to the God Who is in the middle of the tunnel. And the biggest mistake a human can make -- and it is a mistake which causes many lives to feel full of doom and gloom -- is to only look toward light that is at the end of the tunnel (or the light which was at the beginning of the tunnel -- but that was then). To look forward to the end of the tunnel is useless when your whole life is in the middle.

God says, "When you need My love and friendship, call Me. I am your loyal Parent, your devoted Friend, and your true Love. But what use can I be to you if you don't call Me?"

A parent who isn't being used is always frustrated. And so is a friend or lover who isn't being used. The feeling is, "I know something difficult is happening in your life, in your mind, in your heart, but you don't give me a chance at it. Why don't you give me a chance to help you in your hour of need? Please, don't just think of me as the light at the end of the tunnel, when you don't even know how far that is."

Friends, if God is, for you, only the light at the end of the tunnel, then where is the end? Where is the exact end of the tunnel of evolution -- the place where the light is, our Reunion is? Some say evolution goes on forever. Does that work for you? That's a long time for us to go without. Too long!

God says, "I'd like to be in the middle of the tunnel: one-eighth, three-eighths, five-eighths, all the way through. That will give us many years extra companionship, mutual love, and mutual service."

Otherwise it's just POW! at the end of the tunnel. In one shining moment, POW! "Good to see You, at last!" Or, "It's about time! Where have You been?" And God says, "Here. I've been here. I was in that tunnel with you."

Perhaps you've heard the old footprints-in-the-sand story:

The person asks, "Where have you been, God? I look down in the sand, and I see only one set of footprints in the sand where I have walked. Why did You abandon me?"

God replies, "At those times where you saw only one set of footprints, it was because I carried you. I carried you; you just didn't know it."

My point is, if you didn't know God was there, carrying you, what good was it? Things would have felt so different, if you had known.

God is here, with you. Be with God. Be with God, and experience the light in the middle of the tunnel.

And, friends, don't worry about your ability to be with God. There is help, when you want it. Here is what one Celestial Being said about that:

"I am so inclined to jump, to jump into the hearts of all people -- and lead them, lead them, lead them, to the Father. But I must be invited into each heart, and I can only be invited by a certain degree of desire, a strong will for truth and love, a certain willingness for feeling. THEN my heart can do their own heart's bidding.

Do you see? I cannot jump without you. I cannot oppose your will. I must not be premature in my acceptance of your requests. Desire has to be clear enough to you, to your own heart.

But be not surprised, when at last it happens -- or when at first it happens -- that when souls cry out for me, or rather, for the Father, in my way I take them there, to His hand. Yes. I do."

Tags: enlightenment, God, God-consciousness, Divine love, evolution, Divine Presence, life, grace

Ego-Chic Spirituality

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:52:42 GMT

There’s a new trend these days; just look around Gaia and you’ll see what I mean. Ego-chic spirituality. A lifestyle that incorporates many elements considered spiritual, but lacks the real essentials of true spirituality. In fact, spiritual aspirations and good intentions aside, ego-chic spirituality is predominantly ruled by ego -- consciously or otherwise.

Selfish spirituality

Think it's hard to tell the difference? Not really. Your ego can. Your ego would be kicking up a huge fuss if you were sincerely trying to embrace true spirituality. It would feel truly threatened, because true spirituality requires real ego-transcendence, first and foremost. If what you're feeling is hip, cool, secure on the path, aware, successful, chances are you may be part of this new demographic.

The ego loves this new spirituality. Ego wants a safe haven where it can live as it prefers. The spiritual appearance of the ego-chic lifestyle provides a holier-than-thou camouflage that helps ego's tyranny go unrecognized. And yet, anyone who really looks can see the ego in angel's clothing. For starters, just listen to these ego-chic aspirations:

"I want to be beamed up."

"I want to be saved."

"I want to be empowered."

"What’s important for me is my enlightenment, my relief from suffering."

"My this, my that . . ." "Me, me, me . . ." How different is that from the average person living the "worldly" life?

The selfishness of ego-chic spirituality is a dead giveaway. Lets honestly separate our ideals from our actions, our talk from our walk. Thinking unselfish thoughts and espousing unselfish ideals doesn’t appreciably change the end results of selfish living. What are you really living for?

Solo spirituality

Most followers of ego-chic spirituality live for themselves alone. Few can be found in coupled relationship -- or for that matter, in any living-together situation. They may complain bitterly about the lack of kindred souls, but for the my-own-wayfarers, solitude is not just "happening to them." They choose to be alone. Listen to their mottos:

• Finding my own bliss!

• Living my own truth!

• Treading my own path!

If that's what you're up to, you want to be separate.

Me following my own path

Nice to create your own path, but eventually, if a person goes far on their own path, they're too far gone. They tend to lose compatibility with everyone else. Plus, their ego is way too out of hand to live with others.

No surprise that these days, being alone is practically a new religion. Some people actually hold "being whole and complete in oneself" as the holy grail of evolution. Very ego-chic, that. But very problematic, spiritually.

Alone is not the way God intended people to go, much less grow.

Getting ready for self-love

People sometimes say, proudly, "I'm taking time for me, I'm taking care of myself." But usually, those golden words introduce the most spiritually damaging, self-destructive period in a person’s life.

The followers of ego-chic spirituality say they're loving, but what does their loving consist of? Getting ready to love. In setting those priorities, the ego-chic crowd finds great comfort -- even justification -- in ideas like these:

"Physician, heal thyself. You've must heal yourself before you can heal anyone else."

There's some truth there. Preparation has a clear and positive purpose, and a self-limiting duration -- as long as there is a high priority on what one's preparing for -- actually loving others, and actually helping others. Unfortunately, most people start the first step without any urgency about proceeding to the next step. And to be honest, preparing is often used to indefinitely postpone the risks of doing.

But even giving the benefit of the doubt, the question remains,

HOW do you get to feel good enough about yourself to help others?

By taking another thousand bubble baths?

Let's get real: The only way to get ready to love is by loving other people. Without loving other people, it is impossible for children of God to feel truly good about themselves. The inner imperative to love is part of who we are. To fail to love other people is hell. It's hell because we want to love, and we were made to love.

Plus, anyone who knows anything about God's will and God's priorities knows that Divine promptings are invariably inspirations to love, personally and truly. Given that, it is particularly problematic that so many people who consider themselves "spiritual" are incompetent and unwilling in the area of personal love.

What happens when you have a social God with anti-social devotees?

Look around the world, and see. Ships passing in the dark, the people and God. Billions of promptings falling on deaf ears. Fact is, most people are just way too out of shape to mix it up in love -- even in the direct service of their God.

That’s why it's tragic that ego-chic people don't even aspire to functionality in personal love. Clearly, something in their so-called "spirituality" is sorely lacking. Heart is lacking. Soul is lacking.

… But, without heart and soul, can it be truly called spiritual? You know the answer.

Go the other way

Spirituality begins with ego-transcendence. To the extent egoic motivations predominate over spiritual ones, truth gets misunderstood and misapplied -- always. And, where there is excessive ego, soul desires translate into selfish purposes; and otherwise good, healthy activities become unhealthy shields against Truth, love, responsibility, and rightness. You can see all these things happening, all over the world, in the name of religion and spirituality. See it, then go the other way!

God’s will for spiritual people (all His children)

If selfish spirituality is humanity's "hope," humanity has no hope. Love is our hope, only love. That's what true spirituality is truly for, as God would have it be.

And that's what we are for, too -- and I mean that in every way:

why we were made,

how we are built,

and what we most deeply want.

Tags: spirituality, ego, ego-transcendence, love, healing, selfishness, Divine promptings, my own path

Being the One You Are

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:21:09 GMT

The life that is really true is not drawing close to God, is not having any kind of goal. It is goalless; it is pleasurable; it is simply enjoying what is there. And similarly, we are everything we need to bealready. Therefore, we don't need to become someone we're not. But at the same time, we can certainly say,

There is more -- MUCH more -- of who we are.

The full enjoyment of the perfection God created as who we are, the perfection of our relationship to God, and to all -- this is vast. Though the perfection already exists, our enjoyment of it could be, and should be, much more. This is what the Celestials constantly invite humanity to realize, accept, and enjoy.

Relating rightly to the idea of "more"

The hitch is, though there is more to be, it is perilous to be oriented to that moreness, to even think such a thought, because it brings out in us a seeker mentality. And seeker mind is a denial of God, a denial of self.

I told Jesus, "I feel that I walk in God in many ways, even though mine may be a limited revelation of the infinity that can be. But when I set myself to improving, it throws me into the depths of hell. As I begin to think there is more or different, even that which is obvious to me all comes into question, as if it were not true, when itis."

Jesus replied, "Generally, to think that there is more or different is a terrible illusion. But there are two ways to say there is more. One is, 'There is more that can be gotten.' The other is, 'There is more here and now.' In the first case you could say, 'There is more ahead of me,' or 'There is more if you go down to the store, and get more.' In the second case you could say, 'There is more here, more now. There is. This is more." The first one fits the usual way of thinking, the second one doesn't. The one that doesn't fit the usual way of thinking is the true one."

More as-is-ness to show and glow

Ordinarily, when one hears the call, "There's more!" it sounds like a call to seeking -- a call to different, a call to other than, a call toelsewhere. But let's look at the statement, "There is more in what you are."

The call to "more":

It's NOT "What you DON'T have is more."

It's "What you HAVE is more."

There's more you than what's showing. There's more you to show and glow. But that more is more of your already-are-ness. You are being called to that, to be more of that -- more of what you alreadyare. So you see, this call to "more" is an entirely different proposition from seeking -- the exact opposite, in fact.

To be as you are -- rather, to live as you are -- you must recognize/embrace the "more" of yourself that already is, here and now. In that larger and more comprehensive embrace of yourself, the "more" that you would "achieve" -- that is, be -- is your as-you-are-ness, your as-is-ness. But you must embrace it before you canlive it.

So, there is this tiny little matter of acceptance -- self-acceptance. And acceptance is determinant. It determines whether you are going to live as who you are, or try to live as who you are not. It all hinges on this miniscule matter of self-acceptance. Acceptance -- notimproving. Then, being -- not seeking.

The not-self on the path of seeking

Your not-self is seeking, because your not-self is flawed, damaged, lacking, wanting, imperfect, bad and wrong, drastically in need of redemption, resurrection, improvement. -- NOT!

And therefore it must, and it should be, on the trail to improvement -- NOT!

Why NOT? Because your not-self is an illusion. It is not who you are. And, it does not exist.

But as for you:

YOU do not need to improve, because
you are not that flawed and imperfect NOT-SELF.

Seeking is a spacer

Seeking is a huge problem, because generally, at the root of seeking is a denial of your as-you-are-ness. And that denial gives birth to... click here to read more

Tags: seeking, realization, perfection, self-acceptance, being, fulfillment, reality, ego, relationship

Do You Dare Accept Love?

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:05:28 GMT

Dysfunction in love is genetic: you get it from your parents. And also from your friends and lovers, and the people around you. If the people are unloving, you learn from your environment that there is no love, that people will betray you, and so on.

But it's true, basically, that fear of love splatters from one generation to the next and the next. Two abusive and unloving parents show their children a model of unlove, the failure of relationship. Dad kicks mom. Mom's mother kicks mom. Mom kicks her daughter. The children become skeptical, bitter, hostile. Daughter kicks her next boyfriend. They beat the hope out of you.

That heritage of abuse is a torch that passes from one generation to the next, from one person to the next, through role models of disease, dysfunction, unlove.

And nowadays, the chances for success in love seem slimmer than ever. Young people laugh in your face if you talk about love. Their concept of enduring love is mostly endurance. Sow your wild oats on Saturday night, and pray for crop failure on Sunday. Otherwise, there's enduring, then failure, then moving on. All things being anywhere near equal, you just get ground up in the gears of “the way things are.” Love is for fools, that's what fools think. But it's not true.

Under such abysmal conditions, not too many people escape despair, and resist the temptation to give up on love. Statistically, you're unlikely to be an exception, a person for whom love succeeds. More likely, you will reinvest robotically in the losing loves that your parents and friends invest in, with the same horrid results: disappointment, frustration, failure, hurt. On that path, you eventually collapse into morbid depression.

Here's how it'll be: Either you follow the old, tried-and-blue paths, OR you recognize you have to find something that's unique, off the charts.

So you see, there's no way off that treadmill other than daring. None at all. Because obviously, if you don't dare respond positively when love is delivered to your doorstep, your fate is sealed -- and history can only repeat itself in ever more disturbing iterations.

How does a person get off the treadmill? You must dare your way off. You must dare to be rare. You must hugely care. And you must -- absolutely must -- have the courage to accept your answer when it knocks on your door.

Only the bravest souls respond properly when their bluff is called. And only they get it out of the hell, and are healed.

Actually, escape involves several steps. First, dare to pray. Not very hard, that part. Your heart prayer goes up to the universe that there should be real love. You pray for something exceptional, knowing that for love to viable, it must be exceptional.

If you pray sincerely, your prayer will be answered, because God answers heartfelt prayers, absolutely. Again, when it comes to love, the demand for real lovers is far less than the supply. And a demand that small is nothing for God to fill.

But then comes the critical part: When God sends your answer, you either accept it or reject it. This is the answer that came from God, this person who was given by God to you, as the true and actual answer to your prayer.

The answer to prayers is a given, but to accept the answer is rare -- VERY rare. People say, “A person who could really love would be a one-in-a million person.” To that I say, “That's true, but the supply exceeds the demand, because a person who could receive love is one in ten million.”

Good news! -- the supply of love exceeds the demand ten-fold.

So the person who's going to get out of the cycle of despair will be the one who not only prays for the right thing, and gets the right thing, but also accepts the right thing. Everybody else stays on the treadmill, generation after generation. What else could happen? Nothing -- except daring.

If you want love, dare to embrace your answer when it comes. And dare to admit you recognize it. Even that takes courage, you see? Cowards think, “If I admit that I recognize the answer when it comes, then I'll feel obliged to love. Won't that put me at risk? And then I'll be used and abused and betrayed. Therefore, why should I admit that I recognize the answer when it comes?”

Such fearful thoughts, as automatic, demonic, logical, and safe as they seem, effectively abort God's mission to heal you. They send God's answer packing.

Isn't that something?

Tags: distrust, fear of love, courage, answered prayer, relationship dysfunction, healing, love, dare

Hallelujah! Six Hideous Belief Fads Are Dying!

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:04:03 GMT

Humanity has arrived at a great moment of opportunity. That's because people are becoming DISILLUSIONED with a number of destructive, faddish beliefs that have been seen to create great suffering. Thank God, these fads are failing, and fading out. Let me list them for you. 

1. The selfish pursuit of abundance

2. The golden idol of whim

3. Live for number one

4. The holy grail of (hyper-) independence

5. Self-creation and individuation

6. Childish Divine genderism 

1. The selfish pursuit of abundance

"Think and grow rich. Pray and get what you WANT."

This is the idea most recently promoted by "The Secret" as the Law of Attraction, but it is an old, really sorry idea. The so-called "Prosperity Doctrine" -- pray and get rich -- is part of that same madness. It is all about getting what you want. All such ideas appeal to the worst in mankind by encouraging us to harness our God-given mental powers to selfish, materialistic purposes. Personal power and materialistic gain through spiritual power? What a tragic distortion of any true spirit value! Harness spiritual power for selfish gain? How ugly! We think the use of spiritual means justifies selfish ends -- but it doesn't.

When people are formulating "what-I-want goals," they are often doing it from a place of ego. In that case, their fears and preferences have nothing to do with their actual Self. And when ego harnesses the powers of mind to selfish purposes, people mess up. They are like children trying to play with tools too advanced for them. The principles of creation that people are toying with are true enough, but the average person is not ready to rightly use those tools. The effort becomes insane -- a pursuit of something too low, too small.

As long as people are identified with ego, they cannot properly use spiritual tools. But if they use those same tools as a spirit, things will be right. If we put first the high value of being love as we are, of being here to help and serve, and of overcoming our own ego, we can understand the proper use of the mind. Then we can constructively create what we -- as spirits -- want. But we must first become well-rooted in love, in rightness. With love and rightness as our main goal, we can rightly use everything else. We are unlimited. But this must be the basis.

God intended us to have what we need in abundance -- but not for us to be selfish. God was to take care of us, and we were to take care of each other. That works! It's like when a couple takes care of one another things are wonderful. But when each of them is out for themselves, things are rocky.

Selfish thinking has switched us from God's plan of abundance to humanity's (or rather, ego's) way of lack. The truth of the matter is, humanity's selfishness has prevented God's plan from operating. It has done that by creating lack -- and actually, in a perverse way, preferring it. You see, ego says, "If I live in lack, I am justified in acting selfishly, not generously, or lovingly." But since lack was created to justify and perpetuate selfishness, the idea of using our mind or spiritual power for selfish acquisition can never eliminate lack. The exact opposite is true: selfish pursuits of abundance multiply the very consciousness that createslack.

The notion of pursuing material abundance as a spiritual quest is the bottom of the barrel. It's right down on the level of "he who dies with the most toys wins." Fortunately, people are finally seeing how ugly and ineffective, how lame, how low that stuff is. Between the over-use of the principle of abundance in Christian television and the glamorization of selfishness in New Age books and movies, people are beginning to get nauseated by this "quest." It's about time!

SOLUTION: DO NOT use otherwise legitimate ways of wielding spiritual power -- prayer, affirmation, and the like -- to ends that are almost purely selfish and egotistical. Instead, … click here to continue reading

Tags: individuation, abundance, independence, self-creation, prayer, disillusioned

Free the Free Horse: the way beyond illusions

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:13:50 GMT

God wants us to come home. "Come home to Truth. Come home to yourself. Come home to love. Come home to God. Don't tarry, because the life of illusion creates much suffering, so therefore, come home. I love you, and I do not like to see you suffer."

What a poignant invitation. Begging us to come home even though, in reality, we've never left home, never been separate from God, and never been other than who we are -- God's Divine sons and daughters. God knows that.

But what God knows, most of us have forgotten. And that's a problem, because we're now living in illusions. And we're suffering in an (unreal) "subjective reality" in which we believe -- and consequently feel -- that we are small, weak, needy, separate. Far from God, far from home, and alienated from each other. We desperately need to remember who we are. "Knowledge is power, but only if you can remember it."

If you've traveled in spiritual circles, you've heard talk of "the world of illusions." But the phrase means little more, to most people, than... click here to continue reading

Tags: God, illusion, truth, freedom, reality, true self, perfection, enlightenment, seeking

Divine Oracle Training

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:15:30 GMT

Over the past few years, we've had a lot of experience in relating with Celestial beings through oracles -- members of our group who have learned to allow higher beings to live and speak through them. We're consistently impressed with the many benefits we've received from the guidance and love of the Celestials. We've enjoyed being able to offer Divine guidance and comfort to people, and Divine teachings to the world.

Our oracles have grown by functioning as conduits of that high Divine consciousness. And during that time, the Celestials themselves have given us a lot of knowledge about the Sacred Way of the Oracle. We are now able to share this sacred knowledge with anyone who is sincerely interested in following the Oracle path.

Divine Oracle Training

Learn the sacred art of Divine communication in a beautiful, God-tuned setting. Nestled in the hills of coastal Oregon, the retreat center of the Living Love Fellowship encompasses 80 secluded acres of meadow and forest, home to a variety of wildlife. Quiet ponds reflect peaceful evergreen groves and magical alder glades.

Divine Oracle Training gives you the opportunity to strengthen your connection with the Divine and open up the channels of your being to transmit more Divine Love, Light and Wisdom. You will . . .

• Deepen your relationship with Divinity

• Receive personal training from an experienced oracle

• Learn to deliver the wisdom, blessings, and love of Divinity

_______

About the Program

Every student receives personal instruction from an experienced oracle. The oracle mentor at Divine Oracle Training is Mana Amadon. Mana has been an oracle for several years, allowing the Divine Mother to live and talk through her. She also serves as a conduit for Jesus, the Elohim, and Mary Magdalene.

Videos of the Divine appearing through the LLF’s resident oracles:

The Goddess: Learn to Be Consistent

Mary Magdalene: Inclined to Jump (0:36 min, 1.9 MB)

Jesus: Commitment to Spirit (0:39 min, 1.9 MB)

The Curriculum

Though the curriculum includes some basic items that all students will do, your course of study will also be customized according to your personal spiritual needs. The Goddess Herself will be involved in creating a curriculum that is most fitting to you.

The basic items on our curriculum are:

Instruction in Unification Meditation, a love-based meditation designed to deepen your connection with Divinity, and with your human brothers and sisters. You will practice Unification both alone and in a group.

Dance with Divinity. Open up to God through the practice of sacred dance -- a powerfully effective way to connect with God, and learn to allow God’s movements to flow through you. Spiritual dance direction provided.

Attend Meetings with the Divine Mother. The Living Love Fellowship frequently has meetings with the Divine Mother through Mana, during which people ask Her their personal, spiritual questions, and receive direct guidance. These meetings are always profoundly uplifting and healing to those who attend. You will come to one or more of these meetings as part of your internship at Divine Oracle Training.

Personal Guidance. You will be offered personal guidance from qualified spiritual counselors.

______

To Serve as an Oracle

To be an oracle is a great honor, serving both God and humanity. The purposes of an oracle are: to uplift and heal the humanity; to make Divine guidance and blessings available; and to help connect individuals with God directly and permanently.

Being an oracle is a genuine spiritual path. God is love, and therefore, only when you love can Divinity walk and talk through you. Serving as a Divine Oracle requires a life of love, ego-transcendence, and cooperation with the Divine. This school is for those who are interested in such a life.

To read more about the oracle's unique contribution to life, click here.

______

Scheduling and Fees for Divine Oracle Training

Tuition, room and board. Private room, all meals included:

$1600 for one-month course.

$3000 for two-month course.

A non-refundable deposit of $200 is required for all courses.

Special dietary requirements can be accommodated.

If you are unable to afford this, some or all fees can be paid in the form of work while you are at Divine Oracle Training. Possible tasks may include gardening, housework, transcribing, etc.

______

About Living Love Fellowship, Sponsors of Divine Oracle Training

We identify with the traditions of God-loving persons worldwide. While we come from various religious and spiritual backgrounds, we are united in our common experience of the living God. We affirm our solidarity with heavenly healing work, with the contemplative dimension of all religions and sacred traditions, with the needs and rights of the whole human family, and with all creation.

If you're interested in participating in this program, click here.

Tags: oracle, Divine guidance, training, mentorship, God

And the True Way IS ... Faith AND Good Works

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:11:33 GMT

The big question of spiritual life

When it comes to spiritual life, the big question is . . .

“Am I fine and acceptable as I am—or do I need to work to make myself good and loveable, and to make myself worthy in the sight of the Lord?”

And along with that, once one understands that one is good and loveable, as God made all His children to be, here’s the second big question . . .

“If I’m fine and acceptable as I am, then why would I bother to do good works (or make efforts to live a good and righteous life)?”

That makes some sense. And, it’s easy to see that “self-work”—working on oneself, trying to improve oneself—reinforces the basic assumptions that motivate the work in the first place: low self-image, unworthiness, etc. In that respect, self-work would tend to contradict our hard-won understanding that we already are fine and acceptable. “Why am I working to improve myself? Oh, I remember: it’s because I’m so flawed.” So, generally, self-work becomes a treadmill, always leaving us with the nagging sense that we still need to improve.

In that case, isn’t it far better than efforting to simply accept that God made us perfect, and that God always already loves us and accepts us as His beloved, worthy, and perfect children. That reasoning seems to be supported by the Biblical admonition

Not by works, but by faith shall you be saved.

So again, this raises the question, why should we do good works? Why should we take seriously the instruction to “be perfect even as God is perfect”? Why indeed?

Why do good works?

There are many reasons your heart will readily recognize:

• For the love of God: A lover of God knows how God would like His children to act, as a general way of life. For example, the scriptures of all religions contain descriptions of right living. The Ten Commandments are but one example.

A lover of God also cares how God would like us to treat His children, not just in general, but in each specific situation. So a lover of God joyfully obeys Divine promptings to do good and loving deeds, moment to moment, in real time.

• For the love of humanity: Goodness, and acts of goodness, help and heal our fellows. Goodness makes God happy, makes others happy, and makes oneself happy.

• For goodness’ sake: Children of God love Good as well as God. And, since we are beautiful children of God, our works will naturally be beautiful works—good works. Beauty does as beauty is. Therefore, goodness is natural to us, native to us, more compatible with us than wrongdoing.

• For our own sake: Goodness liberates our minds and our self-images from the shackles of guilt and shame—shackles that bind us in misery, causing us to feel separate and distant from our fellow man, and from God. It is not GOD so much that must be satisfied with us; we have our SELVES to please. Let’s face it: in our hearts, in our own spirit, we object to error and applaud good works. Therefore, if we are to be at peace, and if we are to have self-esteem sufficient to render us RECEPTIVE to love, we MUST work our way out of sin and into righteousness.

Avoiding the pitfall

However, we still have the problem noted earlier: that if we work to improve in a compensatory spirit, clinging to the idea that we are bad, the work will be ineffective. This reflects the true principle “compensation is wedded to its root.” Therefore, our prescription for freedom is this:

1. DO good works.

2. DO NOT do them in the spirit of compensation, or to create worthiness in the eyes of God. Instead, do good works for reasons that are wholly positive.

Accept God’s love

Righteous living need not deny God’s present love for us, God’s present acceptance of us. It is absolutely crucial to understand that.

EXAMPLE: It is beautiful if your spouse gets joy out of pleasing you, because they love you and desire your happiness. And you can easily understand why they would do so.

But what would it be like, and feel like, if your spouse were always working, in a spirit of insecurity and fear, to make themselves WORTHY of your love? That would be, in some sense, a rejection or denial of your love. And it would therefore be sad.

Love is a good reason to do please another. Similarly, rightness is a good reason to work. Rightness is a good reason even to work on oneself, you see. But not to work on oneself in order to create oneself, or to make oneself worthy of God’s love.

“Working on oneself” is a very dangerous phrase. It would be better to say “work on one’s habits.” One can ask: “Is this habit helpful to God? Is it helpful to people?” We can work on our ideas and our beliefs. What work we do in the name of improvement, we should do it as one who loves God, who loves people, who is in relationship to God and others. Never do it as someone who is trying to work their way into relationship, acceptance by God, into love, into worthiness for those things.

So much of what this humanity needs, what Heaven has been trying to do all these years in its guidance to humanity, is this:

We should get OFF of believing we need to work in order to create who we are, in order to create the relationship to God—and at the same time we should embrace the need to work for the sake of righteousness and love.

Do you see? The imprisoning tendency is to believe that if we work at all, or if we work in earnest, it must be because we “are bad.” That, friends, is an outrageous lie! Note that bad people, or people who think they are bad and need to improve, are not the only ones who work. Many great people, even saints—indeed, saints most of all—have worked, and worked hard. But they worked out of goodness, and for goodness sake, and for love’s sake—not because they thought they were bad, and were trying to earn God’s acceptance.

The problem is, under the influence of ego, our minds work like certain tape recorders. Every time you push one key down, another key pops up, but the machine doesn’t allow you to push both down together. It has been like that with this: We have either become lazy and careless, because we thought, “We are good, so why make any effort?”—or we have become active and made efforts, only to reinforce the psychology of being a bad person, needing to earn—“to become worthy of”—God’s love. And that, friends, is a most terrible trap, taken as a whole. It is a trap we must escape.

The good and beautiful way to live

Here is the way to escape it . . .

1. KNOW THIS:

We do not need to work to create ourselves, to create our relationship to God—we must leave that mistake behind.

2. AND THIS:

We should not abandon work, not at all, because love and self and our relationship to God ALL motivate us to work quite naturally.

We must curb the bad habit of associating work with penance, with the need to improve oneself, and with the need to earn the love of God, or the love of others. We must be able to do good works and know ourselves to be already good—yes, all at the same time. That is the True Way, friends.

Tags: faith, good works, self work, self-improvement, spiritual life, love of God, goodness, ego, worthiness

Human Remains

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:34:16 GMT

What is a human being? A masterpiece of God, composed of various gorgeous Divine attributes. Unfortunately, most people HIDE their true beauty — and create a false persona in its place. The result? Precious little REMAINS of the real human being. This video talk explains exactly how the true self gets lost, and how to retrieve it.

Human Remains

click here for audio only (mp3)

Transcript:

David: This is going to be a pretty hard-bitten little thing. It’s called “Human Remains.” And it’s what’s left of people after they get done with themselves, and what to do about that.

Your true colors

So, it starts out with the concept, well, what is human being? Or should I say, what was a human being as God created a human being to be, before man got a hold of it and had a different idea? I think that a man is what people say a man is, which is a unique masterpiece of God. I agree with that concept. And “God doesn’t make junk,” they said. And furthermore, God makes awesome beauty. When you look into the windows of the soul and you see that thing and you go, “Oh my God” — that’s right. There’s something about that. That’s why people get married; they see that. That’s what they remember forever about you, when they had that moment, when that thing happened and they got to see the real deal. And it’s like, God not only doesn’t make junk, but God makes stuff that would bring you to your knees, if you had a chance to see it. It would take your breath away, and it does. And you go, “Awesome.”

You know, somebody says, “You’re not going to believe this.” You go, “What?” They go, “I actually saw the real so-and-so.” You go, “You’re shitting me, right? This is a joke right?” And they go, “No. This is for real. I saw the real so-and-so.” “What was it like?” “Awesome! It was awesome! That’s the one I knew, that’s the one I love, that’s the one I knew was in there somewhere. Hasn’t been out for a while. I saw it.” “Whoa. Did you take a picture?” “No, I forgot to take a picture. It happened so fast.” Right?

So, how do we know that people are so damned awesome? How do we know that God makes awesome, and not junk, but awesome? Testimony, witnesses, right? Like Cindy Lauper:

“Don’t be afraid to let them show
your true colors.
Your true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow.”

Right? You’ve heard that one?

Group: Yeah. Gorgeous.

David: True colors, right?

Or you’re in a social occasion, maybe a party, and this person’s dancing or doing something, and you’re nodding your head and watching them, and you don’t even realize that you’re totally transfixed, but you’re watching this person. And you’re going uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, and stuff like that. And then at one point you realize: they’re being themselves. You never saw that before. And it’s like, “Oh my God, here I am. They’re being themselves. What a trip!” Maybe they’re doing the chicken-walk. You don’t know what it is, but somehow a million ton of lead got off and they’re doing something that is beautiful, and is not characteristic, and it’s out of their particular box that they usually like to stay inside of. And you are spellbound.

Again, people are awesome. God made them awesome. And I know why. Because in the beginning there was God, and what could God make people out of? Well, what else was there? Think. You see? That was it. That was the only raw material that could be assembled into a person. What was He going to do, borrow from the neighbor? There wasn’t no neighbor. He had to use the resources, and He/She was it. That was the resource. “Here, have My heart.” You see what I mean? “Have a piece of Me. You want a piece of Me? Here. There, you are a piece of Me.” Okay? You have Divine inheritance, Divine genes. Had to, child of God. That’s what that is. So no wonder people are awesome. God’s awesome, and they’re God’s kid. Chip off that old block.

Every person has to be some kind of unique configuration of God. Mix up the colors a little different, splatter it out. It’s got to be something that was there. And so, God’s children. Not bad.

Masters of camouflage

But then, when you talk about that awesomeness, and you talk about that party at which you saw the person, then you realize how drab people can be sometimes, even yourself, compared to yourself, and you know it. Then you realize this is not usually what we see, for sure. We don’t really see the beauty. It doesn’t mean the person isn’t beautiful, but you might have to dig for it. You don’t see it everyday. It’s not that they’re not beautiful, but they’re hiding it. They’re willing to hide it. They’re afraid to let it show, true colors, a lot of times. So we end up with cardboard people. Nothing much. A lot of hiding and not much that’s worth showing, on the surface. Social personas, right?

Well, if there is a God in there, they must be doing a pretty good job of hiding it. If there is beauty, they must be doing a pretty good job of hiding it, in some cases, you could ask. And the answer is yes. They might be doing a really very good job. It doesn’t mean it’s not there. It just means that a good job is being done on camo. That’s it. That’s expertise, that’s talent. That’s hiding talent. Cause people aren’t anywhere near being themselves, for the most part. If they are a full deck, they’re playing with five, ten cards, maybe. The rest of it, hidden. That’s a very narrow reduction, a very narrow band. And this is what I mean when I say “human remains.” What remains of the man I married, the woman I married? That’s what I live with, the remains. What remains of the humanity that God created? The remains?

“Dearly beloved, we’re gathered here today, the bereaved of our recently departed, to honor the remains of humanity, as God created them. To live with the remains, to be a friend of the remains, to talk to the remains, to try to heal the remains of what God created them to be.”

And it’s an emotional realization when you realize the incredible greatness of what you’re trying to heal, love, or be with, and how it’s not showing, and how it’s there, and how it just needs to come out. And how you want to love it out, call it out, shout it out (for the laundry people); shout it out. Whatever you do, it’s because of the intention of you know better than the “fact” that the remains is really dead, that the corpse is actually a corpse. And you don’t necessarily want to settle for the usual conversation. Like, “How ya doing? Staying out of trouble?” And the guy goes, “Sure enough. Yep.” And you go, “Well that’s a goddamned encyclopedia about your life.” “Well, you asked the question.”

And they go, “Well, how’s it hanging?” And they go, “Downward. Huh.” Are we getting deep and meaningful yet? Do we understand each other deeply yet? Is this it, folks? Is this all that we can really communicate? You know. “How you doing?” “Staying out of trouble. Huh.” You get it? Stick figures! Nothing! It’s nothing! What does this mean? “Staying out of trouble.” “How’s it hanging?” “Downward.” Oh God! This is not an adequate description of the masterpiece of God’s creation, “How you doing?” It’s not. Don’t you think, or don’t you?

The way we relate is so incredibly obtuse. It’s a wall. It’s a wall that hides almost all. We live with the remains. What we’re willing to show is the remains. What we’ve hidden is, for the most part, the best part. And we’re hiding that. Hiding your light under a bushel basket maybe? The beauty that is you. You see?

They say “the straight and narrow,” but this is the straitjacket and the narrow. A person lives in a straitjacket because they’ve decided to live in it, and it’s like a narrow, narrow, narrow path. What they can say; what they can’t say. What they can be, what they can’t be, because a person plays it safe. A person guards their more precious jewels. You’re a teenager. You put it all out on the table. You got your heart broke. You decided not to do that again. You pulled in your horns a little bit. You didn’t show up, not as much, next time around. You made that resolve for yourself. You followed through. Next thing you know you’re not too much of a person. You’re less. You know the wholeness of being a teenager in love for the first time? The wholeness of it, the kamikaze, you see what I mean? Everything there. This was big stuff. This was big. And people decided to what? Squash it, smallen it, reduce it.

In the aftermath of deciding who to be

And this happened when you were sixteen. Right at the time when you were busy trying to figure out what to be. And you were looking around for role models and inspirations. You know: Boy George, of course, is out there. Twelve Inch Nails. Heavy D. You know, lots of stellar examples of possible ways of being. Richard Nixon and other inspirational figures. It’s like “Ahhh, what should I be?” That’s what a teenager wants to know!

I say, well hey, fuck that. What did God make you to be? But no, you’re a teenager, you’ve got to decide what to be. So you’re looking at your different role models, you’re thinking about how to walk, how to talk. You know, you make it up yourself. You’re supposed to “invent yourself.” We’ve been through this stuff. And you’re busy inventing yourself. But you haven’t got it invented yet, and that’s why sixteen year-old love was real. Because you didn’t have, at that time, a well spackled-up, well-epoxied persona to present for the wall that’s gonna be your relationship face. You didn’t have that yet; you’re working on that. It’s a work-in-progress what type of asshole you’re going to come out to be by your own election. Depending on which assholes you follow and decide are cool. What the haircut, what the walk, what the talk. You know. What the behavior pattern. Which gang you’re in. You know what I mean? You’re working on it. It’s too soon to be a total jerk, a total facade. If the person had caught you in two years, why maybe you would’ve been able to show them a real jerk. But it wasn’t time. It was still in the oven. The fake persona that you’re working on, still in the oven. Not well formed. Nothing you could present.

They say about martial arts, that when you’re jumped in the alley, if you haven’t got your martial art trip completely under your belt yet by the time they jump you — because you’re only a green belt or a mauve belt or a gray belt, you know, or just a belt belt — if you don’t have it together enough, you’ll fight in your old way. You’ll bite and shit, because you don’t have quite the thing yet. You have to internalize the drill before you can use the drill. Right?
And here we are, we’re teenagers, we’re trying to figure out how to be. But we’ve fallen in love, and we’re being genuine because we haven’t perfected the fake. We haven’t perfected it. We’re working on it, we’re not there. “Come back in two years and I’ll show you the kind of person I’m working on being.” Oh give me a break! You’re so much better now. Now you’ve got a heart and everything else. Now you’re totally in love. You’re writing names in the book by the thousands. My name. You’re doing shit that’s completely whack. You are in love. This is awesome stuff. This is not to be sneezed at. You know? Am I wrong?

Group: No. You are right.

David: I think this was closer to the truth! Closer to the heart in them days of your own becomingness. And it could be like that again, you see. Take it all off, whatever you got put on. That’s the message, but we’ll get to the message.

But pretty soon, you know, eighteen, twenty-one rolls around, and you’re being a pretty good self-made jerk, because you’ve got it baked. You put it out on the table. The people have to eat this shit, the persona you got together finally. And you’re going to strut this stuff and you’re going to do this thing, and it’s going to offend most of the people. You know, certainly going to break your own heart. Because when you think about it at the end of the day, “Oh man, I was mean.” You know what I mean? Least minimum is you break your own heart in the process of breaking everybody else’s heart. Least minimum is some voice is in you saying, “You know, this is not the way, Ace.” But there you are, you’re doing it because, after all, you take pride in it. It took a lot of work. This is your fucking Mona Lisa, this shit jerk you’ve become. In the process of doing what you thought was the right thing, the cool thing, the good thing, at that time!

You’re innocent. Hey! All is forgiveness. There’s forgiveness in this couch. See what I mean?

If you want forgiveness, best bet is go to an enlightened person, God, or a couch. That’s why they’ve got pet rocks for this. That’s why people say, “The more I know my husband, the more I like my dog.” Right? I know. Ooooh! It’s awful. But I mean, as we go down in lower consciousness forms, we seem to get more forgiveness or tolerance. “My dog never tells me to shut up!” Yeah, so marry your dog, biotch! And if that isn’t it, get a pet rock. If your dog starts acting up on you, put it to sleep! Get a pet rock. A pet rock is eternal, dogs are transitory. Ya know. And they can cop an attitude once in awhile. Have you ever tried to take a bone away from a dog when a dog is really in love with that bone?

Group: Yep.

David: Hooo! You see another side of that dog! The kind you saw in your husband. It’s like, “Noooooo!” Then you go, “I’m trading up, I’m going to get a pet rock.”

Fran: Trading down, trading down.

David: That was a stupid digression, wasn’t it? I really think it was, and I have no idea where I am.

Mati: It was about forgiveness.

David: Oh yeah. Thank you, I appreciate it, I needed that.

No one likes “me” — not even me

So you’re busy inventing yourself. You’re fabricating something. You get it done. You’re a jerk. People don’t like it! And they respond to you negatively, because you actually are being a jerk, because this is what you tried to be. “I should be more mean,” so you be more mean. And then you’re mean, you know?! And then people think you’re mean. You go, “Well why?” What do you mean why, Jack? You worked on this shit! Okay? This was your intention. You’re the liberated woman. You’re going to go down and give the car mechanic a real hard time, because you know that you can’t be taken advantage of, and so you be real mean and you come home gloating about how mean you were and how you stood your ground and how you be’d yourself and all this other whatever they told you to be. Right?

But you realize, “Man, I was really a jerk. And people aren’t liking me. I used to get three dates a week, now I’m down to one a year. People don’t have taste for the quality shit.” That’s your conclusion in your own brain, but no, no, no, that’s not the real thing. That’s delusional. You know what I mean?

And here we are today. People love us, you know? I mean, they do. But with a passion? NOT! Not always. Not necessarily. Rarely. And you’re on, “Hey! They can’t stand the quality shit. I’m an honest human being. I call a spade a spade. You know what I mean? It’s gotten me in trouble with the NAACP and every other shit.” But, ya know, it’s not that attractive. And so people stop liking you once you get your persona together.

And then you begin to think, “Well, what’s wrong with the people?” When you should’ve thought, “Hey, you know, I might be being a jerk. That might be the achievement I’ve created here by creating a persona in the place of what God created — the feeling, sensitive, vulnerable human being that I was when I was sixteen years old. Before I decided better, before I ‘knew better,’ before I decided to create and follow a new beat, new drummer. Before I created the persona for that. Before I trotted that out and started to use that in public. And now, people dislike me.” And you get the distinct but understandable wrong impression that the person they hate is the real you. It ain’t. They hate the thing you dummied up to take the place of what God made. And so do you. And that’s what I mean.

When you get home from browbeating the car dealer, when you get home from setting your limits, when you get home from using your assertion skills and whatever they taught you in the encounter group — and if it was evil, and if it was wrong, and if it was fucked-up, and if you get home and you can’t sleep, and you feel slightly edgy about it — that’s when you realize that the thing that you created is really an abomination. And it’s not you! The fact that you’re not comfortable being the thing you decided to be proves it’s not you. It actually proves that. Do you get that? Otherwise, you’d be a pig in slop. You’d be a goldfish in water. You’d go, “Yeah, this is it.” It’s not it! Because you don’t feel good with it. It grates against your soul. Your soul is the one that knows that truth. It tells you, “Hey, no that wasn’t it. It was what you thought you were supposed to be. It was what you decided to be. But no, it wasn’t what you are, and it wasn’t what you should be.”

That’s your moment when you start to turn back around. You’re starting to turn back into your true Selfhood after this little temporary vacation or outage that you call “creating yourself.” Inventing yourself. “I’m inventing myself.” Oh gawd! “I’ve created myself.” Hey, God already created your butt. All right, we won’t hold that against you. All I’m saying is, God created your soul, and it is beautiful like a rainbow. It is not this narrow, weird fucked-up human invention. It is this other thing. Right?

Getting too precious about beauty

Okay, can we talk about beauty now? Now that we’ve talked about the fucked-up shit, can we talk about how preciousness is there with beauty? When you see some beauty in yourself, like you’re sixteen, and you’re giving it all, and you know that it’s beautiful in your heart, but you feel vulnerable and raw and unprotected?

There’s a song that says “you only hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all.” But there’s another song they should’ve written, which is, “you only hurt the Self that you love. The Self you shouldn’t despise”... because it’s beautiful. Right? You love these things, and you hurt them in your effort to protect them. Don’t choke the canary! So when people say, “I don’t know why it is, doctor, but I always screw up the really good possibilities in my life.” And in the same way, “I don’t know why it is, doctor, but I always screw up the beauty that is me. Because I love it so, I just can’t help but grabbing onto it too tight, being tight with it, not wanting to give it, not wanting to share it, show it, be it. Because it’s too good. Too good.”

I know! But it reminds me of the guy who has this ‘69 Camaro, and it’s blown, and it’s perfect, and it’s a total restore. The thing is cherry. Perfect! That vehicle, he put his heart and soul into that vehicle. Now, you know where he parks it?

Mati: In the garage.

David: In the garage. And you know what? He never drives it. And you know what? If he ever drives it, he parks it on the opposite side of the parking lot from where any cars are at. This car is unusable for all practical purposes.

This is like a woman. I’ve seen so many women that are that good, that they won’t even take it out for a spin. They got so much heart, so much beauty, so much joy. They won’t even hop, skip, and jump. They got so much love, they won’t even give it. This is precious gone bad, like it was with the Camaro. You see, the guy loved it so much, he ended up loving himself out of a car, because he just had to keep it in the garage, temperature control, with a tarp. He loved that thing so much it became unusable, dysfunctional.

In the same way, you got a heart. You got a love. You got a being that God made. And when you see it, you’re just as awestruck as anything else. And then the ego says, “You know, what you are is good shit, you know what I mean? You ever thought about carrying a sidearm?” (a small self-protection weapon such as a twenty-two pistol.)

All right, let me give you a better example. You have jewelry, diamonds. You have one beautiful diamond necklace. And somebody says to you, “Have you got insurance for that?” And then somebody says, “When you wear that, do you realize that you’re a target?” And then they say, “When you wear it, don’t you think you should carry a self-protection weapon of some kind? Be it pepper spray, be it mace, be it a sidearm, or a small twenty-two pistol, a handgun? Because you’re a target, you know.”

And you gave your heart when you were sixteen. And when you were sixteen, you realized the beauty of what that is. And then the ego comes in and says, “Do you have any insurance? Do you realize that you probably should hide this stuff? And if you don’t hide it, don’t you realize you need to stand up for it, and protect it?” And this idea that comes into one’s mind about beauty is preciousness. Preciousness turned into paranoia, turned into hiding, turned into defensiveness.

How many women have you guys known — and I use the “W” word advisedly, because I don’t want to get cards and letters from N.O.W., National Organization for Women — but, how many women have you actually known who thought they were so much the cat’s ass that they got the idea that if they went out to dinner with a guy, he ought to pay for it?

I’m going, “Hey biotch! I went out to dinner with you. Did you think about that for a second? Isn’t that worth $5.95? You’re not the only one that went out to dinner with somebody. We went out to dinner with each other, you know what I mean? Cash for cash, now, you’re not so much better than I am that I owe you the value of a dinner for the improvement of your being over my being. Or if I fuck you, and I’m supposed to owe you a hundred and fifty dollars, cause you think you’re the kind shit. And I say, you got fucked by me! You know what I’m saying? That’s worth at least a hundred and sixty dollars in my book. All right, so you owe me a tenner. Pay up, biotch, and we’re square.” I don’t know. Am I wrong?

Group: No.

David: Anyway, okay, so it’s off color, but it’s effective.

When people get too precious about something they start to value it in a way which is egotistical, and prideful, and problematical. They start to protect it and defend it. They won’t give it any more. Just like the guy who won’t let you borrow his Camaro because it’s too cherry. Otherwise a friend would give you his car. That’s not a big deal. But he’s in love with this car so much, you see. And this woman is in love with herself so much, and she thinks that she’s so much the hot ticket, so cool, that it’s time to stop giving herself. It’s time to stop giving her heart. That’s too precious. “I got to park that at the other side of the parking lot. I got to keep that in the garage. I got to never drive it. I got to never let anybody else drive it. Cause it’s too good to use.”

That’s the beginning of the death of what God made in this woman. When she is beautiful, but beautiful is no reason not to give, or be. So this quality that is beauty becomes egoized. The guy starts to snap at people, “Don’t get near the car. Don’t touch it.” You see what I mean? And the woman’s on, “Don’t touch me.” Now, I’m not saying she should be a ho. All I’m saying is, there’s a way in which it’s necessary for her to give herself, and not stop giving herself because she thinks she’s God’s gift. If she’s God’s gift, fuckin’ give it! It is God’s gift, now, really.

Give God’s gifts

God has gifts. And guess what, folks? We’re it. Give it. Live it. That’s very important — important to God. Otherwise you’re the Mona Lisa that’s hidden in the basement like the Camaro. And God doesn’t have the enjoyment of seeing His gift given, and seeing the smiles on the faces of the people that got to be with it, see it. Doesn’t get that any more. He made beauty, and then the beauty got hidden away, the beauty that is you. This is why this self-actualization, liberation, enlightenment shit is really so important, because it’s God’s gifts that are on the line, in terms of whether it’s going to be given or not.

You can be all happy with the fact that you’re protecting yourself. You can be happy with the fact you’re suppressing yourself. You can be with the fact that you’re playing it safe. But can you be happy with the fact that God made a beautiful you to be shared, and you forgot to give it? When it’s what you got? So people get precious, and then they hide the Camaro. They get precious, and they act defensive, and then they alienate people. Use it or lose it. That goes with this.

What happened to John Wayne, for example. And I’m a John Wayne lover. I mean, I’m first to admit it. But John Wayne doesn’t say three words in a row! He’s a man of few words. “Hey, pilgrim. Huh.” And I’m saying, “That’s great, John, but what happened to your reality? You’re a man of few words. That’s good. But the whole thing is, it’s not enough words, John. We need more words. More. Come on, more words. Feeling words, John. Tell us something. Don’t hide.”

These cowardly men of few words, they go to the encounter group, and they won’t speak. You know, “Staying out of trouble?” “Yep.” That’s wonderful. I appreciate your sharing. All I’m saying is, I hate the way you share, because you don’t share when you share. And that’s a problem between us. I’ll kill you, is the problem. It’s wrong to kill you, but I feel inspired by the fact that you won’t share your heart. You might as well take this guy out behind the barn and shoot him, because he’s using up space on a very important and overpopulated planet. When he should be sharing the beauty that he is, he’s withholding it from everybody. He came here with a mission. He was going to love the humanity. He was going to make a positive difference in the lives of others, and now he’s totally clammed up. He’s like the biotch on vacation that made up her mind not to give herself no more. Right? What kind of a trick is that?

So then you get atrophy. So then you withheld. And John Wayne doesn’t know how to speak. He’s going to an encounter group to learn to speak for speaking-impaired individuals. And they’re saying, “What’s your name, John?” “J.” “We’ll work with ya. It’s a very good start.” But he’s atrophied. He needs the big “O H N.”

Carolyn: What’s that?

Dinari: The rest of his name.

David: John. He needs to be able to fill in some of the blanks for it. He needs to get verbose. You know. Oh well.

Abuse it and lose it

Okay, so, have you ever valued something so much you hid it to the place where you can’t find it? You hid it so good. You must have really loved it. Now you’ll never fuckin’ find it. And that’s what happened to good old John, John Wayne. He had a feeling heart, but he hid it so good, now he’s in the encounter group for the feeling-impaired. And he’s going to work through it. It’s going to take seventeen years of therapy, buy the guy a whole Mercedes Benz just to be able to say J-O-H-N. John. It’s hard for him. He’s worked himself down into a straitjacket with this. Use it or lose it! Right?

And this is what happens to the women. They forget to love, and the next thing you know, when it comes to love, they have no idea what that is. “I gave at the office when I was sixteen. I ain’t doing that no more. Now I’m forty-eight, I have no idea what that would be. I’d have to go to encounter group, or therapy, or something, to even remember what that’s supposed to be about.”

But what happened? The beautiful quality came out. Person got precious about it. They started to be defensive about it. They egoized it. It started to print pain. It started to create pain in relationship, all this defensiveness. So the person, then, realized it was printing out pain, and what do you do? You shut it down. You quit. Like a guy who’s obnoxious for twenty years, and then he decides to shut up. Seen these guys in the rest home. I tell you about these guys. They were real opinionated for their whole life, and then they finally had to live with their relatives, and now they won’t say anything out of their wheelchair, because they realize they’re only alienating people, and it’s not doing any good. So they shut up. And that’s it.

That’s what happens. If you abuse it, you lose it. If you screw it up, you eventually get smart enough to pull the plug on it. And so, that’s what happened to God’s people. They had all these beautiful qualities, and one by one, they abused them, or misused them. And then they decided to put the kibosh on it. They decided to pull the plug on it. And they’re down to, “Well how’s it hangin’?” “Down.” You see? Shit like this. There’s not much left of the remains.

Dearly beloved, the departed decided they wanted to be less. And they were less, and now they are less. The beloved has gone down to a nubbin. They’re a shadow of their former self. They’ve narrowed down. They’re in retreat. They’re hiding. And so now you’re trying to live with the remains, and they’re trying to live with the remains. “How do I live when I’m not being a quarter of what I was when I was young? How do I live when I’m not being myself? How do I live when everything has a cork in it? When I’m real suppressed, and very careful? How do I live that way?” And the answer is you don’t. You’re dead, for all intents and purposes. You’re I. V. - ing along.

The typical man, for example, is not manly. He’s terrified. The typical woman is not a woman. She’s not feminine, for example. She’s terrified to be a woman. She’s got it so safe, so ego-proof. He’s got it so dummied-up, you see. They’re subtracting the real, and they’re adding on the unreal to replace it, and that’s what the facade is. And this is the remains. It’s the facade. You’re dealing with, you’re living with, the facade of most people. It’s not them. It’s not them at all. You know it. They ought to know it. Right?

So they reduce and take away all the things that are vulnerable, feeling, beautiful, and they add on all the things that look professional, cool, and groovy. And that’s the result we call a person. It’s not a person at all. It’s a great subtraction, and a stupid addition, a replacement for Self. We call it persona, social facade. It’s not you.

Be what God made

Be you is the ticket. Be what God made you to be. Be free in that sense. And those are your true colors. And they’re beautiful, you see, like a rainbow.

All right? That’s it.

Tags: God, persona, true Self, humanity, self-actualization, self-protection, ego

Skit Night at the LLF

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:42:15 GMT

We have a tradition of doing skits for each other here at the LLF. Recently two of the women here did skits about Mary Magdalene. Here are some pictures taken during their performances. I think you will feel the spirit!

Tags: Asha, Mati, Living Love Fellowship, LLF, skit, Mary Magdalene

Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen

http://loveishere.gaia.com — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:46:20 GMT

An old spiritual song goes, “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus.” Well folks, that’s changed. These days, with communication being what it is, almost EVERYBODY knows the troubles that many people have seen, all over the world. And at home, people are expressing negativity and pain and sorrow to each other in abundance.

This article addresses the problem of hyper-abundant bad news. In the public media, and in the individual mind within oneself; in the global context, and in the context of relationship, people have shared the troubles they’ve seen. Troubles and negative thoughts have been shared even to the point of sinking the entire world in massive torment, pain, fear, upset, and depression.

Too many troubles and not enough truffles

The whole world has done itself terrible harm just by sharing negative thought in mass quantities. It is sinking under the weight of so much bad news, and so many dismal views. We’ve reached the point where seeing the news is actually hazardous to our health. It causes stress, distrust, gloomy expectations, negative faith.

And we can’t blame it all on the news media. A couple — even an isolated couple in a remote location, with no connection to the outside world — can, and often does, bury itself in bad news too, just sharing negative thought in large quantities.

It’s no longer true that “nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen.” These days, closer to the truth is, “nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen!” In other words, nobody knows the beautiful things that happened — because we haven’t told them. We have all seen beauty, but not many of us have shared much of the beauty we’ve seen. So the new song could say, “Nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus.”

“I’m a spiritual experience survivor”?

We’re so overboard on the negative side, we don’t just hide the good things that happen to us. We actually redefine them as bad, oftentimes. Even the best things can be turned into bad news by negative minds. I’ve actually seen support groups for people who have had spiritual experiences: Spiritual Experience Survivors Anonymous! Goes to show, people can make a drag out of anything — anything can become bad news if it is badly enough interpreted or misinterpreted.

This happens all the time with love. People say stuff like, “I was in seventh heaven when I met my mate, but then things went sour. I don’t know what I was thinking at first. Now I know it was all a lie.”

I know you think you were “such a fool,” and you were “so blind.” But maybe the things that you experienced, that you thought were good, were in fact good. Surely, if you loved and were loved, it was not all a lie. Maybe you don’t actually need to turn that all around, in this kind of hindsight that you think is 20/20, whereas it’s really just painting everything black — even what was white at the time it occurred.

If it’s white, leave it white

How about having it be okay with us that a good thing is a good thing? Rather than revising history entirely, and painting everything black, why not admit: “We had a beautiful relationship for a long time.” Admit that was real. Tell the good news about the relationship.

And then, perhaps, we could begin to see that that this bad thing that happened, which is that the relationship screwed up — that was fully unreal. That was untrue. That was unnecessary. That was unworthy of what was, what coulda been, what shoulda been. Then we could know that the real was real and the unreal was unreal. It’s good to keep it that way. Otherwise, all we have is revisionist history, in which the beautiful things that we’ve painted black color our whole world black, psychologically, spiritually, emotionally.

What about the truffles I’ve seen?

It is true to say that nobody knows much of the incredibly magical, wonderful, beautiful, uplifting, healing, Godly things we’ve seen. Whether with man as Divine, or with God as Divine, so many wondrous things have happened in the Temple of love, in the bubble of love, in the magic and mystery of Divine communion. And of many such beauties, it could truly be said, “nobody knows but Jesus” (or God, or one’s partner in love). Generally, we are more inclined to share the ugliness that we’ve seen. We complain, we share negative views, and we call that honesty.

But wouldn’t this be a nicer world if many people did know the truffles we’ve seen? It would do them good to hear of it. That would help balance out the epidemic of bad news and negative views. It would buoy up the individual, the marriage, the community, the world, out of this massive negativity, so thoroughly over-balanced by the ego’s preference for it.

Obviously, what we need is not tacky power cheer — sentiments of a false positive, compensatory nature. We just need sincere declarations of truly good news, beautiful experiences, etc. We need to bear genuine witness to wonderful things and beautiful things. We need sincerely to broadcast the beauty that we know is true.

Friends, if we would admit the beauty and share the beauty that we’ve seen, it would actually keep a lot of personal horror stories from ever even happening. Because a lot of the failure of relationships is caused, for example, by not being willing to give credit where credit’s due, by not being willing to put positive energy into someone or acknowledge things that are good, or by being too willing to say things like “you always” and “you never.” In other words, the “half-empty” mentality, the over-emphasis on the part of the cup that’s half empty, is what torpedoes a lot of relationships.

Shout it from the rooftops

If nobody knows the truffles you’ve seen, tell them. Tell them of the truffles, the sweetness, the beauty you’ve seen. Broadcast your good news and views around the land. That, then, will become the gift that keeps on giving. Your good news will go on giving and living through one person after another. As it is shared by a succession of minds, it keeps on replicating itself, and it heals the world. Good news heals and uplifts the spirit just as much as bad news sickens and depresses it.

This kind of sharing is essential for the health of the human race, and possibly even for its survival. It is essential for psychological, spiritual, emotional health, at minimum.

“Commit random acts of kindness,” they say. “Commit senseless acts of beauty.” But for this, a genuine appreciation of what is genuinely good is needed. A genuine love for what is genuinely loveable. These things are essential.

Share the beautiful spiritual experiences you have had. Shout it from the rooftops. Be the bringer of good news, good tidings. Bear happy witness to the beauties, the wonders, you’ve seen. This will make the world a happier place, for sure.

Tags: truffles, troubles, Jesus, bad news, negativity, stress, distrust

Gaia Community: David Truman's Blog

Cheap Love for Hungry Hearts

INDEX TO PAST BLOGS

The Rise and Folly of Selfism

Mind Magic for Change

Love's a Game You Play to Lose

Chasmic Consciousness

The Way to Enlightened Bliss

Your Love Superpower

Resolves and Resolutions

The Light in the Middle of the Tunnel

Ego-Chic Spirituality

Being the One You Are

Do You Dare Accept Love?

Hallelujah! Six Hideous Belief Fads Are Dying!

Free the Free Horse: the way beyond illusions

Divine Oracle Training

And the True Way IS ... Faith AND Good Works

Human Remains

Skit Night at the LLF

Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen

Free the Free Horse: the way beyond illusions