In the last few posts (and many more) I’ve talked about “experiencing” what we know conceptually. In our innermost being, our true self, we are the divine and have the wisdom of the divine. This wisdom or divine knowing, bubbles up from deep within. Then we experience what we “know” to “know what we know.” It is the divine awareness that comes from a divine experience of divine knowledge. OK, said more simply, we hear God’s heart (which is our own) and we experience in our physical reality what we hear. It is like confirmation. When we are living in tune with our true self (some might call this walking in the spirit) we have these gut feelings and then something happens when the gut feeling becomes an experience, often a physical or metaphysical encounter with the divine in our temporal form. OK, ok, I know it still sounds really deep. How about an example…
We know that God is love and as His extension in this reality, we are love. Really, when we aren’t responding to the illusion of guilt or shame or condemnation or hurts or pain or offenses…and so on, we are at peace and we sense this love deep within us. Then something happens, an exchange with a loved one, a gathering of like minds, a group of people with a common goal, a child is born, a marriage, a sunset, a walk in the woods… When we have these moments we often feel this love and the connection to something much bigger than our perceived limited self. This is the divine encounter of experiencing a divine concept. Sometimes these moments are very intense and leave a lasting imprint on our being.
When we are “waking up” and receiving more and more “revelation” of these divine truths, we are confirmed in what we “know.” This process is our walk. This process is our purpose. We are waking up to who we are, God in this human form experiencing God. It is a wonderful life when we see our purpose and rest in our awakening.
For me it often happens this way: I have concepts I am contemplating in my mind. They take form and eventually become words (like these posts). Then I see the same thoughts written down or hear them from another or experience them in a song, a movie (like the last posts) or something else. The divine confirmation transforms what I know into something I know that I know. It is very powerful.
So regarding love within, I read this just last night and it was very impactful and confirming. I want to share this short excerpt from Paul Ferrini’s book “The Gospel According to Jesus.” I think you will “LOVE” it.
All human beings betray themselves in the search for love and acceptance. They internalize the feedback they receive from others and develop their self image based on it.
In other words, your opinion of yourself is not based on what you know and find out about you, but on what other people tell you. The “you” that you know is a creation of other people’s beliefs and judgments which you accept as true about yourself. Even your so-called “personality” is a set of behavior patterns you adopted to accommodate the needs and expectations of the significant others in your life.
Where then is the “real you” in the equation of self and other? The real you is the unknown factor, the essence that has been heavily clothed in the judgments and interpretations which you have accepted about yourself.
This is true for everyone, not just for you. People relate to each another not as authentic, self-realized beings, but as personae, masks, roles, identities. Often, people have more than one mask that they wear, depending on whom they are with and what is expected of them.
The True Self gets lost and forgotten among all these disguises. And its great gift of authenticity is not seen or acknowledged.
The True Self is not bound by the limitations, judgments and interpretations that the persona lives with. Indeed, it can be said that Self and persona live in different worlds. The world of Self is bright and self-fulfilling. The world of persona is dark and needy, seeking light and fulfillment outside itself.
The Self says “I am.” The persona says “I am this” or “I am that.” The Self lives and expresses unconditionally. The persona lives and expresses conditionally. Self is motivated by love and says “I can.” Persona lives in fear and says “I can’t.” Persona complains, apologizes and makes excuses. Self accepts, integrates and gives its gift.
You are Self, but believe yourself to be your persona. As long as you operate as persona, you have experiences that confirm your beliefs about yourself and others. When you realize that all personae are just masks you and others have agreed to wear, you learn to see behind the masks.
When that happens, you glimpse the radiance of the Self within you and within others. You see a bright being, eminently worthy and capable of love, dynamically creative, generous and self-fulfilling. That is your inmost nature. And that is the inmost nature of all beings.
When you accept your True Self, your arguments with others cease. For you no longer do battle with their personae. You see the light behind the mask. Your light and their light are all that matter.
When you contact the truth about you, you recognize that a great deal that you have come to accept about you is false. You are not better or worse than others. You are not stupid or brilliant, handsome, or ugly. Those are just judgments someone made that you accepted. None of them is true.
When you know the truth about you, you understand that you are not just a body, although you need to accept your body and take care of it. You are not just your thoughts and feelings, although you need to be aware of them and see how they are creating the drama of your life. You are not the roles that you are playing – husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter, employee or boss, secretary or plumber – although you need to make peace with whatever role you choose to play. You are not anything external. You are not anything that can be defined by something or someone else.
The purpose of your journey here is to discover your True Self and leave the persona behind. You are here to find out that the Source of love lies within your own consciousness. You do not have to seek love outside of yourself. Indeed, the very act of seeking love in the world will prevent you from recognizing it within yourself.
You can’t see the light in others until you see it in yourself. Once you see it in yourself, there is no one in whom you do not see the light. It does not matter if they see it or not. You know it’s there. And it is the light you address when you speak to them.
The world of personae is a chaotic and reactive world. It is fueled by fear and judgment. It is real only because you and others believe in it and define yourselves by the conditions you find there. But those conditions are not ultimate reality. They are simply a collective drama of your making. Yes, the drama has its own rules, its costumes, its inter-relationships and its plan of action. But none of this matters when you take your costume off and step off the stage. Mind you, the play will go on. It does not depend on you alone. But when you know it’s just a play, you can choose to participate in it or not. If you participate, you will do so remembering who you are, understanding the part that you play without being attached to it.
Suffering ends when your attachment to all conditions dissolves. Then, you rest in the Self, the embodiment of love, the Source of creation itself.
Yay God!
Lance
alancetotheheart 