Seeing with eyes of Cosmic Consciousness: Are you AWAKE yet?

On Dec. 21, 2012, the world was supposed to be ending. That was the prediction of a certain segment of the spiritual community, using the Mayan Calendar as guide.

Common sense prevailed.

Now the prediction, based on new calculations of the same calendar, is that there will be a major shift in consciousness in individuals throughout the world. I will not argue with the last part. As a species, we are moving inexorably towards awakening to a world beyond our five senses.

But isn't it just like humans, though, to imagine they can foresee the end of the world?

I suspect in every century, every generation, as people become aware of a greater world than the physical realm, there are major leaps in their reasoning. This happens because as folks wake up to new truths, they tend to believe they are the very first to cross this threshold.

Some things, like having full insight into the mysteries of life,  are better left to the God of our universe (Cosmic Consciousness). Try as we might, as human beings,  we'll never be able to reach that level of awareness.

Yet there is one human being who came close or, indeed, may have found the full answers to life and living.

On Dec. 25, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ.

Even those of you who are not Christian should be able to appreciate the fascinating story of his mystical birth in our world and his life.

Jesus lived for a mere 33  years on earth. Yet during that time, he awakened to full consciousness and to connection with the spirit of God within him. The lessons and teachings he left behind should serve as wonderful guides for our own awakening into the truth of our being, should we dare to look with the right eyes and stay steadfast in our search.

Today, being Thursday as I write this, is the day reserved in the Catholic Church to focus on the Luminous Mysteries.

Catholic or non-Catholic, Christian or non-Christian,  we can see how these mysteries, used when saying the rosary,  beautifully highlight Jesus' steps to awakening.

• The Baptism of Jesus. 
• Jesus' self-manifestation at Cana.
• Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
• The Transfiguration of  the Lord, Jesus Christ
• Jesus' Introduction of the Eucharist

The steps clearly demonstrate that Jesus, although already anointed and chosen, still had to take all the necessary steps to wake up to TRUTH within him.

As Jesus moved through life, his consciousness changed and brought him to full unification with God (Cosmic Consciousness).  This was the awakening of The Christ spirit within him.










 (Please enjoy 12/2/ 2012  Daily Word's Message on The Christ ) 

All of us are being called to awaken to TRUTH. Think of all the messengers sent by God to help us wake up: Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, and others.

Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim, we are called to see that  we are more than our physical bodies and the physical world. We are greater than the tiny world we create for ourselves.

 "There is only one true universal religion---the belief in the one God who is in me and also outside of me, in everyone and every living thing." - Leo Tolstoy

Many people "sense" something greater is at hand in themselves, yet do little to connect or understand this sensitivity. It is there...in all of us...patiently waiting to be recognized.  While others can guide us to truth, they cannot awaken it in the person who wants to stay asleep. 

Atheists and agnostics deny and/or question the existence of a greater power at work in our lives and in the world. They are blessed for having such peace of mind.

To awaken to the call of our Soul and to recognize and acknowledge its Presence and Power in our lives is a demanding process, and not many dare to tread there. But the invitation always will remain open.

Many people  will  operate a full lifetime from the basis of their personality, allowing this to  become "God" in their lives. They operate solely from the human mind, and as reward, they get the totality of the human experience with all its goods and goodies.

I actually do not disagree with Bill Maher's take on how some religions function.  Despite his being an atheist, I love this man! He may deny it , or not  recognize it, but based on his politics and positions he seems to work from the basis of his Soul. 

For those seeking to wake up to the Soul within them, the journey of going inward adds entirely new dimensions to living.

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing."-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Awakening is just the start of this long journey inward, which requires moment by moment awareness of the work at hand. 

"Just do what you are doing now, and believe this moment will be good for the hours, years, and centuries to come." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson

       

Waking up to the Soul means that personality and mind do not dominate and control the life they inhabit. When you earnestly begin to operate from the level of  Soul, your path is guided step by step; all you need do is follow. 

"Our actions in this particular moment belong to us. What will become of them belongs to God." -Francis of Assisi

There is no thought of looking back, as you're busy staying focused on the moment and the signals of how to move forward.

"We should desire only things done n the present. Desiring something from your past is to feel sorry for yourself; desires for the future are visions and daydreams. Concentrating on your present desires---this is real life." -Leo Tolstoy

Orchestrating  "the future" becomes irrelevant as you wake up to the truth that this moment is all that matters, becoming the beginning and end: your eternity. In essence, you become "too blessed to be stressed" about the nuances and day-to-day fluctuations in life.

This does not mean that the physical world where we live and operate no longer has relevance. In fact, it should take on much more importance as we journey forward into and with our Soul.

The physical world gives a finiteness to our lives. It should help us decide in the moment where we'd like to take our journey...the work that we still need to do on Earth.

Using each moment to connect with our Soul, and choosing each moment as the vehicle that takes us forward into the future, is what we're called to do...when we wake up.

"I am the tool with which God works. My virtue is to participate in this work, and I can do it if I keep the instrument which is given to me, namely my soul, in immaculate condition."- Leo Tolstoy

The greatest task for an awakened personality, operating through the Soul, is to begin to view life from a higher perspective. The world should no longer feel like my life and their lives: it is one connected life, one connected journey, where there is only the realization that "We're all in this together. How can I serve?" 

Happy 50th Birthday, Jon Stewart! You serve "the people" very well!

Although I don't know if he considers himself religious or spiritual, Entertainer/Comedian Jon Stewart exemplifies a person fully operating from Soul, providing tremendous service for the good of all.  Huffington Post  recently gave 50 reasons for loving Stewart when he recently celebrated his 50th  birthday:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/jon-stewart-birthday-50-reasons-to-love-him_n_2204394.html 

We should begin to see a common thread running through those who command national attention, yet are genuinely humble: their focus is on how they can serve rather than continuing to gratify their own ego needs. (in this case,  these names easily come to mind: Economists Robert Reich and Paul Krugman; Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and the more than dozen  other very rich people who pledged to give away a large chunk of their wealth; Daniel Day-Lewis; Steven Spielberg, especially in light of  his production of the recently released movie, Lincoln; Journalists Bill Moyers, Lawrence McDonnell and many others on MSNBC, and, of course,  Oprah Winfrey.)  Whether atheist, spiritual or non-spiritual/religious, these folks seem led from the within and step by step seem to know the right thing to do to help lift others.  

We then can gauge that seeing with the eyes of Cosmic Consciousness removes the veils of separation from our vision:

We notice different hues of people, but our greater attention is focused on a colorless world.  Walls we may have erected in the past to move into life are gently removed, as we  grow within, then move outward with wisdom.

 Looking back  becomes the reflection of a wiser mind seeing past "negative"  events as vessels that propelled us  forward.  Where we saw only problems to overcome, we now see stepping stones to lift us higher up into a deeper awareness of the journey. 

Life has different lens for the awake "personality."

In a few short weeks, we celebrate the end of another year. Some of us may judge it as having been either a good or bad year, and many will be  anxious to leave it behind, while others will be reluctant to let it go.

The simple truth is that at midnight on Dec. 31, we have an opportunity to realize that throughout the year, we are given *31, 536, 000 moments (rounded)  to begin to live life differently and to connect to the spirit within us. Each moment is an opportunity. This moment is all that matters. Awake to this truth.

There should be no regrets, no nostalgia, just an awareness of where we are NOW and an opportunity to CELEBRATE!

      "Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is the true prosperity."

Eckhart Tolle,"The Power of Now"

I'm hoping that the predictions of those oh-so-human beings about 12/21/12 are very accurate. My hope is that as we shift into 2013, many will take the leap into new consciousness.

Were we to wake up in 2013 on Planet Earth to a world where differences blend and lines of separation blur, 2012 indeed would been the end of the world as we know it. Another more dynamic world would have just begun.  













Namaste',
Che'
NOTE: This number is not based on pure math but is a consensus number used by several sources, citing varying numbers of days in the year. 

The Human Experience: Our Unending Search for Purpose and Meaning!

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." Steve Jobs, 1955- Oct. 5, 2011.

I celebrated my birthday on Oct. 5,  the same day Steve Jobs died in 2011. With me getting a year older, then remembering Jobs, it brought home to me the fragility of this human experience. It certainly invited  reflection on our purpose for being here.

While taking an early morning hike on Mission Peak, in my home town,  I did exactly that.

No one would doubt that Steve Jobs fully lived his purpose. He seemed to know exactly what he had to do; he did it, then left.

Just as important as the legacy Jobs left for the world with creation of Apple computers, the  iPhone and iPad,  the tales of his personality also  have become legend.  Based on all the public information written on him, there were many facets to Steve Jobs, and some of it was good and lots of it also was bad.

We then wonder about the purpose of those of us not intended to become "larger than life" personalities,  like  Jobs, or  Oprah Winfrey, or even Mattie Stepanek.*

*Mattie Stepanek, wise beyond his years, was a frequent
guest on Oprah's show. He died @ age 13 in 2004. 

Why, then, are we here?


As I picked my way up the hill in the early  early morning,  the answers gradually began to unfold.

I remembered Oprah talking on one show about the last words of a dying man:  "It was so easy, mom!" he'd exclaimed to his mother as he  made his transition.



What was so easy?

Life.

Yes. The dying man meant life was so very easy!

Huh?

Yes. Life is meant to be easy, yet, we make it all so very, very complicated.

Let me try to explain how easy it is, yet how we make it difficult.

There are several messages throughout the bible that are intended to guide us as to how to live our life's purpose,  but we conveniently choose to ignore them.

For example: Matthew 25: 14:30, we read of  a master giving his slaves talents, ranging from one to five,  "each according to his ability." 

We learn that all the slaves, except for the one given one talent, doubled their talents upon their return. The one with one talent chose to hide his in the ground for safe keeping!

The master rewarded all the others, but the one servant he threw
"into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Life is so very much the same.
We can choose to hoard our skills and talents or we can go forward easily into the world, following the path where it leads, multiplying our skills, talents  and values as we accumulate more wisdom and knowledge along the way.

But how many of us truly dare to live this way?

Often, we lock ourselves in the world into which we were born, recycling the same values and beliefs. From generation to generation, we never dare explore beyond the boundaries of our parents, indeed even our grandparents',  lives, values and style.

In "Four Agreements," Don Miguel Ruiz writes of when and how we learn to adapt to the ways of the world and the conditioning that is passed on by our parents and the generations before them.

For many people, life then becomes  a vicious cycle, going around and around, never seeking, thus never knowing, there may be yet another way!



Think about this.

We're born into the world with specific skills, talents, abilities and orientations. Some learn to enhance those skills and talents. But many others peek over into friends', families' and  neighbors' lives to copy what they are doing, without doing very much to multiply their own skills and allattributes.

This portrays the lifestyle many people aspire to have in their lives. But, we must ask: Will this make a happy life for Me?

Exodus 20: 17: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's."

Very simply, the bible, tells us not to want our neighbor's life! But we do! We want exactly what our neighbor has, and he/she wants what his/her neighbor has and so on and on.

Should we then  wonder, why,  by the time we get to the third decade of life, we are worn out. Many then  begin to feel the staleness of life and become weary. 

That's because we haven't grown anywhere. We have merely maintained the skills and talents with which we were born into the world.

Certainly our purpose in coming to Earth was to do more, much, much, much more than to maintain and to copy?

"Everyone is a genius. But if you would judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it would live its whole life believing  it's stupid."-Albert Einstein

Luke 12:31: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all those things will be added unto you."

Find yourself ...FIRST...and from that base...everything else will grow. You won't have to merely maintain, and you certainly won't have to copy!

I almost can hear Cosmic Consciousness, aka God, sighing in frustration, seeing our increasingly materialistic focus: "Why bother? They just aren't getting it! " 

Aha...but God knows there is hope and faith and also a growing awareness and awakening to TRUTH. He knows that in those seasons of discontent, we allow our Soul to reach up and rise up and through us.  Slowly, perhaps, but one day, many will wake up to FULL truth and wholeness, way before they hit any season of "discontent." 

The movie, "OMG: Oh My God," is a recent release based literally on searching for God. This Hindi language film, with English subtitles,  addresses the religious conditioning many accept, following blindly and seeking peace through rituals and adoration of images..

"Religion should serve humans, not humans serve religion," the protagonist  Kanji exclaims in one scene.

"People are not God loving but God fearing," a swami told Kanji. The swami further explained that people need to have symbols to cling to in their daily lives,  so much so that if you take away one religious symbol or idol, another one equally as powerful will spring up in its place.

"Religion is not for God but for people," Govinda, as "Lord Krishna," tells Kanji.  OMG is a powerful and provocative movie, and I strongly recommend it. 

Beyond religion, there are many other ways people give up their right to find their own meaning and purpose in life.

Many of us are so blinded by the world of material objects that we use our skills and talents to manipulate new ways of acquiring more of these things. Rarely do we step back and do a personal survey of our lives and see that with all the acquiring, we truly have not moved anywhere.

Materialism is a seduction of our Souls and most do not move beyond the initial stage of this seduction to TRUTH. We believe that by succeeding in a material way, we have conquered the world.

Far from the TRUTH.

Some people are born rich. Others are born poor. So at either end of the spectrum, both poor and rich seemingly have their life's purpose defined early on.

Many of the rich believe their purpose is to maintain their wealth;  the poor believe their purpose is to acquire wealth. Maintaining or acquiring wealth then becomes the only and final purpose of many walking the Earth.

Both those who are born rich and those who acquire riches are living far from the truth, if that's where they stop. We have to move beyond only the material aspects of this world, which cannot then be taken with us when we depart, to discover the many other traits and characteristics we have to enhance. Essentially, getting rich should not be end; it should viewed as the beginning.

What will our legacy be, if it's based only on material goods, which can disappear with one catastrophe?

Each of us was born with our own set of fingerprints and footprints that are stamps of our unique selves that carry us through this lifetime. The fact that others are along with us on the journey does not mean they are there for us to copy, envy, hate or try to diminish so we may feel good about ourselves. Others are in our lives as witnesses and models, good or bad, of what we should or should not aspire to become.

The people in our lives serve as mirrors of ourselves. Where and when we see those "mirrors" becoming clouded or distorted,  it's time to change the mirror and move on.


Our "becoming," then, in the business of life is the expansion of ourselves in as many ways as we truly feel authentically able to express, without stress or strain. But we never should become complacent, just to feel "safe."

We're here to reflect the best of all of our uniqueness. Not to copy anyone else...but to be the darn best with what we were given. [CAUTION: This does not mean to "stay busy!" Far from it, becoming your best self may be to "unbusy" yourself from doing "things" for appearance's sake!]

Just as the biblical story talks about how one person multiplied his talents, and one did nothing, so too are we asked to find our purpose in myriad of ways.

To end up our lives becoming just one thing in this life, such as a rich man but devoid of compassion, has to be a grave and deadly sin.







We are not asked, as some suggest, to love more than we are capable of loving, but simply to love.
We are not asked, as some suggest, to give more than we are capable of giving, but simply to give.
We are not asked, as some suggest, to become better than the other person, but simply to become our best.

Most importantly, for those reading the many gurus and self-proclaimed spiritual leaders, we are not asked to be GOD! .

We simply are being asked to be the best we can be by giving full expression to our skills and talents while we remain here on Planet Earth. We do so by staying fully in the flow of life, not hiding out when things get rough, but staying the course, getting up and putting one foot in front of the other to march down the road again.

Set of Ruiz's very popular, spiritual books.

Ruiz offers  in Four Agreement, these recommendations for living our lives:

1.  Be Impeccable With Your Words
2. Don't Take Anything Personally
3. Don't Make Assumptions
4. Always Do Your Best

Yes. It is that simple. 

For Christians, following The Ten Commandments, also would make for easy living. Each religion has its own guide for human behavior. Beyond these guides, everything else is doctrine, beliefs and also dogma. Be careful. 

We can follow the simple ways to become a decent human by staying conscious to who we are and to our truth.

Even if our legacy is just intended to serve only our family, friends and immediate circle, our time on Earth would have been fruitful. It eventually will multiply.  Life has a way of spreading...and expanding...beyond our years.

Honoring our unique purpose,  becoming our best  unique self , is our purpose in life. THIS IS the reason for this beautiful but oh, so humbling, human experience.

Stay in the flow of your life. Don't let your life get away from you. Learn the easy way to expand your "talents" by staying connected to your Soul.  Honor it,  first, and always. 

"Infinite Mind will put ideas into your mind, words into your mouth, creativity into your hands, boundless opportunity before you, and guiding light on your way.”-Eric Butterworth,* Daily Word, Oct. 7, 2012 

At the end, we, too, will say:

 "Ah, Mom, it was so easy, and yes, Mom, I lived it in just the right way. I lived my    purpose!"

Or like Steve Jobs, we may simply say, "Ahhh."  This makes words unnecessary and becomes an expression of our gratitude for the journey and our utter joy for having truly lived our purpose.

Namaste',

Che'

*NOTE: Mattie Stepanek, born July 17, 1990 and died June 22, 2004, suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy
Eric Butterworth,  born in 1917, was senior minister of The Unity Center of New York City from 1961 to 2003. He died on April 17, 2003.