The Seer

We can choose to reside in the middle, the center of the Wheel of Life — to be simultaneously connected to and detached from the whirling world. This is how we can be in this world but not of it. We can choose to move our attention away from residing on the rim of the wheel of life, running continuously through changing terrains, to its center where we experience stability and calm.

We intuitively know that in challenging times we need to “get centered”, to gather ourselves back from the superficial borders of life and connect again to our ’soul’ — the essence of our Being.

The Wheel of Life is always in motion, going through different fields — gravel and grass, cowpats and daisies. If we identify solely with the edges of the wheel, always interfacing variously with happiness or sadness, always anxiously reaching and racing towards the next thing, how can we be at peace? At the surface of the wheel, ups and downs with accompanying insecurities are experienced, but at the center we find stability.

So let us choose to reside at the center of the Wheel of Life, watching life’s events spin around us, embracing it all — supporting, loving, accepting, connected yet detached from the “drama”, creative yet not controlling. It is in the center of our being that we meet the One Self. It is here we see we are not different, not separate from each other. It takes all of us: it takes the One Self to form the center. The center is where we, as infinite “spokes” of the One Consciousness, find community.

~ From: Living As God by P. Raymond Stewart

In Christian history, Thomas Aquinas is well known as the author of the huge theological treatise, Summa Theologica. However, the following facts seem to be not known widely: The Summa Theologica was not completed for Thomas died before completing the comprehensive work.

Furthermore, about three months prior to his death, on Dec. 6, 1273, after he saw something shown to him by God during a time of contemplative prayer, he became totally a different man. One day before Dec. 6, he was ardently writing Summa Theologica, but he suddenly stopped writing. Even though he was encouraged by many to complete the work, he replied, “I cannot do it any more. Compared to what I saw, the works I did are like straws.” So, he never resumed his work.

‘What,’ we may ask, ‘did this eminent churchman see, that made the product of all his scholarly mental activity seem like mere chaff by comparison?’ What all the great sages and mystics ’saw’ was that … the transcendent reality out there is the same reality in the very depths of the heart, in the hiddenness of subjectivity.

Meister Eckhart says, for instance, that “the eye by which I see God is the same eye by which God sees me.” How is that possible since God does not have form, and certainly doesn’t have eyes?! Well, obviously the eye is a metaphor for something else. Let us substitute the personal pronoun I for eye, and see where it leads us.

Thus we have: “The “I” by which I see or know God is the same “I” by which God sees and knows me.” That’s better, or closer to the meaning, but I think we can do better than that.

Let’s interpret the personal pronoun “I” as a metaphor for consciousness, and then read it again. It would go something like this: “The consciousness by which God knows me, and sees me, is the same consciousness by which I know and see God.” I believe that’s Eckhart’s meaning … and what Thomas saw.

~ by Wayne Teasdale

“What amazing grace to see clearly that the very thing that looked so heavy in the world of form, the very thing that seemed to be limiting me on all sides, that very thing is the doorway into the formless and into who I am beyond form. Limited form arises from limitless Spirit and that Spirit is the form each of us is at this moment. What grace to see now that ultimately they are one.”

~ Pete S.

Allow awareness to rest into the quietness in the room. Notice that the same quietness that is “out there” in the room is also “in here” in the body and mind. Just rest into that quietness. The quietness is a portal to the pure awareness that is who you are.

What are you seeking? You may believe that you are seeking more money, a better relationship, a better drug, a new job, or enlightenment. But what is it that you really want?

If you are really honest, you will discover that you already know those ‘things’ outside you will not provide the permanent contentment you are seeking. Even if you get the new job or the new lover, at some point the newness will wear off and the seeking for something more or something better will begin again.

If you are really honest, you will discover that what you are really seeking is the end of seeking itself. But if you listen into the quietness that is already here in this moment, that silent stillness already contains peace.

That peace is who you already are. The notion of seeking into future to find what you already are is insanity. Just rest as awareness in this moment. The end of seeking is already here in the quiet stillness of awareness.

~ From: Reflections of the One Life, by Scott Kiloby. If you would like to get an inspirational reflection like this each day by email for free, >>>Subscribe Here.

September 21st, 1663: (At the end of a week in the country). So home, and with great content and ease to our own bed, there nothing appearing so to our content as to be at our home, after being abroad awhile.

~ Samuel Pepys — Diary

Going Home …. is a frequently played piper’s piece and melody, sometimes heard at funerals … this time it is sung by the angelic Libera Boys Choir of South London. To hear it on YouTube, >>>Click Here

Sent in by Martine — Thanks Martine.

A young jackaroo (Aussie cowboy) from outback Queensland goes off to university, but halfway through the semester he finds he’s squandered all of his money.

He calls home. ‘Dad,’ he says, ‘you won’t believe what modern education is developing. They actually have a program here in Brisbane that will teach our dog, Ol’ Blue, how to talk.’

‘That’s amazing!’ his Dad says. ‘How do I get Ol’ Blue in that program?’

‘Just send him down here with $2,000,’ the young jackaroo says, ‘I’ll get him in the course.’

So … his father sends the dog and $2,000.

About two-thirds through the semester, the money again runs out. The boy calls home. ‘So how’s Ol’ Blue doing, son?’ his father wants to know.

‘Awesome! Dad, he’s talking up a storm. But you just won’t believe this. They’ve had such good results with talking, they’ve begun to teach the animals how to read.’

‘Read?’ exclaims his father. ‘No kidding! How do we get Ol’ Blue in that program?’

‘Just send $4,500. I’ll get him in the class.’

The money promptly arrives. But our hero has a problem. At the end of the year, his father will find out the dog can neither talk nor read. So he shoots the dog.

When he arrives home at the end of the year, his father is all excited. ‘Where’s Ol’ Blue? I just can’t wait to talk with him, and see him read something!’

‘Dad,’ the boy says, ‘I have some grim news. Yesterday morning, just before we left to drive home, Ol’ Blue was in the living room, kicked back in the recliner, reading a Dogue magazine. Then he suddenly turned to me and asked, ‘So, is my master still having an affair with that little redhead barmaid at the pub?”

The father groans and whispers, ‘I hope you got rid of that bastard before he talks to your mother!’

‘I sure did, Dad!’

‘That’s my boy!’

The kid went on to be a successful lawyer!

Sent in by Linley Anderson — thanks Linley.

At the beginning of another year, we have paused to reflect on our purpose in sharing with you in this way.

Clearsight is an educational and personal support emterprise devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, and institutions. With a emphasis on spiritual awakening, mindful awareness and well-being, we focus on the growth of healthy, self-realized people who can nurture a more compassionate society.

Our mission through education and counselling is to foster conscious or lucid living by pointing to the one timeless Truth or Reality discovered by all the great spiritual teachers of the world.

Our website introduces us to you and offers various opportunities for learning and self-discovery. We look forward to providing you with engaging and enriching experiences and insights.

For The Buddha, the ending of mind-made suffering came about when he ‘entered’ into an inner state of Consciousness he called ‘Nirvana.’ Jesus attained Nirvana when he ‘entered’ what he called the ‘kingdom of heaven.’

The path to enlightenment, Nirvana, or the Kingdom of Heaven spoken of in ancient times is nothing more, nor anything less than the realization of Truth, Love, and true Being. And, as Jesus. Buddha and others so often pointed out, this realm of Truth and Love is found within, which is to say, within you and within me.

Enlightened Masters of old used dissimilar languages, parables and metaphors to express the same cosmic reality. And without exception, they discovered this ‘new’ reality, which is true reality. by means of a radlical transformation in conscious awareness.

The Kingdom of Love and Peace is beyond thought and beyond time. When one with the One, we are transformed in Awareness into the cosmic realm from whence we came. This is the Truth of Zen. This is Nirvana. This is the Tao. This is Brahmic Splendor. This is Eternal Bliss. This is the Kingdom of Heaven — the Pearl of great price. This is the Promised Land. This is Paradise.

~ From the book: The Christ is Not a Person: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Destiny of Man by J.C. Tefft

Sometimes the question arises, ‘If all is one, then why don’t I know what you’re thinking?’

The problem appears because of our life-long experience as an ‘individual.’ We totally identify as an individual and see others as individuals too.

Once it is understood that I am Awareness and not just this human form, it is also seen that there really is no-one here or there – no ‘me’. The ‘me’ who believes it has control and power is in reality imaginary.

Einstein talked about the mind of God. This can be expressed as if ‘God’ is dreaming and we are all dreamed characters.

The ‘individual’ is imaginary — a belief only — and a dominant belief, as beliefs tend to be. This whole imaginary world is within a belief system.

What we (all) are is the awareness of a human experience. The individual experiences which are yours and mine appear as you and me in awareness. This experience can’t hear your thoughts and that experience can’t know mine.

Awareness is all there is, everything else is an appearance in or on it. In growing up we have been taught to identify with the perceptions of the human form that we came to think we are, that we’ve identified as. With the development of the ‘me’ belief as a central idea it is then thought that ‘I’ exist as an individual in a big world.

The perception is from a ‘me’ perspective that receives its thoughts just as different TVs around the world are receiving different images. My TV can’t receive a programme that’s airing in Newfoundland and vice versa. ‘My’ thoughts, which aren’t mine anyway, appear to me — to this dream figure. That dream figure receives its own thoughts and sometimes different figures receive the same thought but react to them differently. And we don’t ‘think’ anyway — thoughts appear.

The important thing is to understand, at least theoretically at first, that I am the awareness of everything that happens to this human. We ask the question, of ourselves, WHO AM I? And notice the answers that arise in the mind. At some point we may simply notice that the real ‘I am’ is watching this whole process (as if from above or behind).

There is nothing intellectual, philosophical or difficult about enlightenment although it often appears so and is usually treated so. The truth of who you are is unbelievably simple — it’s the mind that complicates it. Right now, whether you know it or not, you are awareness and it is as if you have stepped forward into (and identified with) the character you thought you were.

Now it’s time to metaphorically step back to what you have always been in essence — infinite, eternal, limitless, spacious Awareness..

~ by Roy Townsend

What is pointed to here is neither revolutionary nor new. It is the same reality that has been pointed to by uncounted spiritual guides for more than three thousand years.

The ending of mind-made suffering does not come about through adherence to any system, method, ritual, or belief; nor is there an exclusive path to enlightenment.

Self-created suffering ends at the moment there is a clear seeing or realization of Truth, a clear realization of what is — within you. To realize Truth, the mind must be free of any and all systems of belief, which is to be, as the Buddha put it, in the ‘highest state.’

This requires that no interpretation, no opinion, no idea, no belief, no ritual, and no judgment be in the way. It requires a mind that is free of all that. In that state of mind — the highest state — suffering ends.

~ From the book: The Christ is Not a Person: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Destiny of Man by J.C. Tefft pp xiv