November 30th, 2014

I dwell in the house of love.
I am loved, lovable and loving.
The love that I seek is full and complete right here where I am.
I am love and I express that through all I do, am and being.
I clear away all blocks to what I am in truth… Love.
I look inward to find what was true all along. I am love.
I love you, I’m sorry, please forgive me,
thank you.
All is love, all is well. Thank you God.

Extended Awareness by Michael Bernard Beckwith

Extended Awareness:  The Possibilities of Quantum Consciousness by Rev. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith.

There is an inner impulsion within the human being which is commonly interpreted as the engine that drives personal success, that earns credentials and accolades which result in magnificent acquisitions — the external more, more, more of which there is never enough to satisfy. For even when we have succeeded in meeting many or most of our outer goals there remains an awareness of an illusive “something,” an emptiness that is yet unfilled.
Is there any validity to this awareness? Is there something woven into the fundamental fabric of our being that urges us to seek fulfillment beyond the offerings of the external world? Affirmative evidence is offered by Andrew Newberg, M.D., in his book on brain science and the biology of belief, Why God Won’t Go Away:
As Gene and I sifted through mountains of data on religious experience, ritual, and brain science, important pieces of the puzzle came together and meaningful patterns emerged. Gradually, we shaped a hypothesis that suggests that spiritual experience, at its very root, is intimately interwoven with human biology. That biology, in some way, compels the spiritual urge.
According to both ancient and contemporary spiritual traditions, there is a passageway into an extended awareness of our true nature, that aspect of ourselves that can be accessed when our preoccupations of the conscious mind are quieted. As we enter through this passageway, we lift the veil that hides the inner paradise in which we truly live, move, and have our being. India’s great philosopher, Sri Aurobindo, aptly describes it this way: “The full delight of being is intrinsic, self-existent, automatic; it cannot be dependent on things outside itself. In the spiritual knowledge of self, the first step is the discovery of the soul, the secret entity, the divine element within us.” From this wisdom we can conclude that there is no permanent or ultimate fulfillment from anything outside our essential Self, our soul-self. This leaves little wiggle room for us to postpone seeking out spiritual practices by which we may evolve an extended awareness of our at-onement with First Cause, which some call God, Brahma, Spirit, or no name at all.
Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37-year-old Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the rational, time-oriented left side of her brain. Within a four-hour time span she lost the ability to walk, talk, read, or write. Her knowledge of how the brain works allowed her to recognize that she was having a stroke and seek immediate help. At the very outset of her eight-year recovery period, her consciousness shifted into the right brain where she experienced a state of nirvana, what she described as an extended awareness of herself being “at one with the Universe.” Andrew Newberg explains this extended awareness: “various key brain structures and the way information is channeled along neural pathways leads us to hypothesize that the brain possesses a neurological mechanism for self-transcendence.” The degree to which we activate this innate capacity to self-transcend, so do we cultivate an extended awareness of the Self.
As we progress in self-transcendence, the sense of separation or involvement with the personal mind expands into an awareness of the unique emanation that each of us is as an individualized expression of the One Mind that is everywhere in its fullness. That which is happening cosmically begins to happen through us locally. In such a state of awareness the plenitude, beauty, peace, joy, bliss, compassion — these transcendent yet eminent qualities of being are activated within us. It is a process of awakening to our true nature which places us in harmony with the fundamental order of Existence. Modern Zen master Huang Po describes the ultimate state of being he calls One Mind in this way: “All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but One Mind, beside which nothing exists. Only awake to the One Mind.” This One Mind is the very life force that animates and sustains existence, that is the evolutionary impulse within the universe and each individual.
The personal mind — predominantly the left side of the brain — wants to figure out how all of this happens. The “how” is a delay tactic of the ego so that our sense of being a separate self doesn’t dissolve right on the spot! Self-transcendence is our birthright. Everything that we need is already within us, announcing itself through the inner impulsion to grow, develop and unfold. How do we cultivate an extended awareness of Self? First by an identity shift which acknowledges our at-onement with the One Mind. We then grow confidence in our capacity to become a fully enlightened being. As an enlightened being, we live from a state of cosmic consciousness, a conscious awareness of our oneness with all life.
When we consider current scientific studies of the brain relative to the field of quantum consciousness, the evolutionary possibilities for the individual and our global family are limitless. A genuine state of cosmic awareness expressing through an individual or a whole nation is distinguishable as scientific knowledge of life, life lived in attunement with cosmic laws. Living from such a state of consciousness holds the potential for governing our world by super-wisdom which results in cooperation rather than competition; in unity rather than division, in oneness rather than separation.

November 23rd, 2014

My heart is open and full in this moment
grateful for all my blessings.
I am grateful for my heart,
my breath, and my body.
I am grateful for my home, my shelter,
my warmth and safety
I am grateful for my family, friends
and my community.
I am grateful for my talents, creativity,
my work and life
I am grateful for my soul, my Spirit
and my connection to Source.
I am filled with gratitude that the Spirit
is having its Life through me
I surrender in deep gratitude for all that is!
Thank you God, and so it is!

Eckhart Tolle and The Kingdom of Heaven Within

By Eric Nelson

I’m not talking about living a life of leisure filled with expensive cars, beach homes, and extravagant vacations, but an experience brimming with the kind of spiritual insights that not only make this life worth living but decidedly more fulfilling. The problem is, whenever you say “spiritual insight” there’s often the assumption that you’re talking about something too ethereal to be practical or too elusive to be achieved in this lifetime.
This is exactly the point that one of the world’s most well-known spiritual teachers and authors rebuffed during a talk he gave this past February at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education:
“Some people awaken spiritually without ever coming into contact with any meditation technique or any spiritual teaching. They may waken simply because they can’t stand the suffering anymore.”
He went on to cite examples of those who have either been told that they have a short time to live or have been given an exceptionally long prison sentence. In both cases, any thought of a future has been effectively dashed, forcing these individuals into what Tolle describes as “an intense awareness” that there is only the present moment with “no more future to escape into mentally.”
And what’s the result? A lot less suffering:
“That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”
The good news, according to Mr. Tolle, is that in order to experience this awakening, “you don’t have to wait for the diagnosis by the doctor or to be put in prison… nor do you have to do 30,000 hours of meditation or live in an ashram for 20 years. Once you get a glimpse of it you can invite it into your daily life.”
For a growing number of people, it’s this understanding of the always present “spiritual you” shining through that has led to significant improvements in their lives, not the least of which is better health. This would seem to indicate that these kinds of spiritual insights aren’t the least bit ethereal or elusive but decidedly practical.
“Spirituality and religion belong in the healing paradigm,” writes Airdre Grant in a study published in the Journal of the Australian Traditional Medicine Society). “They are determinants of health and they are factors in recovery, wellbeing and longevity.”
But where do these insights come from? Is it simply a matter of wishful thinking? Or is it perhaps something more reliable, more effective than that?
“Jesus said ‘the kingdom of heaven is within you,'” observed Mr. Tolle, implying that this health-inducing understanding may be lot closer than we thought:
“I think if he lived nowadays, instead of ‘kingdom,’ he would have said, ‘dimension.’ And ‘heaven’ refers to a sense of vastness or spaciousness. So if we retranslate the words of Jesus into modern terms [it would be] ‘the dimension of spaciousness is within you.’
And then Jesus said — when they asked him, ‘Where is the kingdom of heaven and when is it going to come?’ — he said, ‘The kingdom of heaven does not come with signs to be perceived. You cannot say, ah, it’s over here or look, it’s over there, for I tell you the kingdom of heaven is within you.'”
How nice it is to be reminded that the proverbial “kingdom of heaven” we’ve been hearing about for at least two millennia — this “dimension of spaciousness” or what I might characterize as the understanding of our true spiritual identity — is “within you.” Within us all. Here and now.
I suppose all that remains is the willingness — and the humility — to put this insight into practice.

November 16th, 2014

God IS the ever-present, invisible substance
that is ready to pour into form
I Am ready, open and available to receive
these rich blessings
I live in the ever available substance of God’s good
I am so grateful for all the blessings of
rich abundance I have
I am so grateful for the blessings that others have
I see so much abundance and goodness
everywhere I look
I serve God. Money serves me
Thank you, God, for all my good! I am richly blessed
And so it is.

November 9th, 2014

The Spirit of Life is Wholeness and I Am that too.
The Spirit of Life is Vitality and I Am that too.
The Life Force of the universe is active in
me as radiant health
I am grateful for my body temple.
I am grateful for my wholeness.
I am grateful for the wise care I give myself.
I love myself, my body, my spirit and soul.
All is well, thank you God!

November 2nd, 2014

I Am so grateful for the Loving Presence
that is within me.
This Presence is my greatest friend
This Presence always goes before me opening doors and making my ways straight
This Presence is the Love, Connection
and Joy that I seek
It is right here, my friend,
the Presence, the Source
I surrender to this Presence and
know that all is well.
Thank you Presence, Thank you God
And so it is