‘The Kingdom of Heaven is spread out over the earth, and people do not see it.’ The reason people don’t see it is because they are looking for it. Their attention is focussed on the future, and so they miss the gift of this moment. They are so caught up in the game of asking-questions-and-waiting-for-answers, so busy trying to be a ’somebody’ rather than a ‘nobody’, that they miss the astonishing intimacy that is already here, an intimacy that simply burns up all questions and answers, leaving only the wonder of what is.

The mind just loves to ask questions, because as long as it is asking questions, its continuity is assured: there is a sense of past, future, individuality. There is a person who has questions, and who will eventually find the answers. There is a seeker who, one day, will come to rest. Curious how it’s always ‘one day’…

Do you not think that if there were answers to find, you would have found them by now? Have you not already been given enough answers? Are your bookshelves not full of answers, overflowing with them?

You see, the questioning must continue, because thought must continue. It doesn’t want to give up, it doesn’t want to die. Answers to your questions have been given over and over again, but the mind cannot accept these as the real answers. If it did so, not only would the questions be annihilated, but also the one who asks them. The questioner arises and dissolves with the questions. They depend on each other. Ultimately, they are each other. If the questions go, so does the questioner.

What is the questioner but a bundle of conditioning, a mass of assumptions, collected over the years? The one who asks the questions, and waits for answers, is actually made of the answers that he has collected! So to let go of this knowledge, to let go of the questions and answers, would be to let go of his very self. No wonder we don’t want to stop seeking. The end of seeking is the death of the questioner, the death of the seeker!

It’s inevitable that the mind must continue to ask questions and wait for answers, for its very existence is at stake! So the great search goes on: “One day I will be liberated! One day I will be free!”

Why not today? Why not now? If not now, when?

What answers are you waiting for? What questions are you asking? For how much longer will you seek the Kingdom?

Perhaps eventually the futility of the seeking will be seen through, and then maybe you will burst out laughing when you see the ridiculous knots that you have tied yourself up in, trying to be free, trying to be liberated. Yes, there’s plenty of laughter when the dream of individuality and the struggle to be free from it all is seen through — indeed, there’s very little to be serious about then!

‘The Kingdom of Heaven is spread out over the earth, and yet people do not see it.’ Even that — even our ignorance of the Kingdom, even our search for the Kingdom — even that is part of the Kingdom.

There’s nothing that the Kingdom is not. It embraces everything. Everything.

~ From: The Wonder of Being: Awakening to an Intimacy Beyond Words, by Jeff Foster

~ From: Jesus and The Goddess, by Tim Freke & Pete Gandy

Others think only saints can be self-realized, and for it to happen you have to have transcended the desire realm, and be beyond the need for companionship, physical comfort, sex and any personal wants or preferences.

This is why we don’t really like using the term enlightenment. It’s such a loaded word, weighed down by many far-fetched stories. We prefer to speak in terms of freedom, or self-realization.

What we teach is that the more you see (recognise What you really are), the freer you are, and the freer you are, the more you’re simply present wherever you are — present without any story.

The freer you are, the more you know yourself as pure consciousness or aware presence, expressing in this unique body, mind, and personality known as “you”.

You still have a story, but now you know you’re not your story. You still have an ego, an “I”, a “me”, but now you know you’re not your ego. You honor the past, keep an eye on the future, but live right here, now. You feel a tremendous gratitude for the gift of being alive, you’re always, essentially, at peace, one with the flow of life.

We say essentially because no matter how free we are, we are still human, and subject to human flaws and foibles, like illness, disability, mistakes, errors in judgment, and even occasional residues of old egoic patterns. Part of being free, or self-realized, is accepting and being at peace with our imperfect humanity!

Above all, you feel moved to share your good fortune with others. You see that the world needs this, before anything else.

~ by Jim Dreaver

~ From, The Gospel of the Second Coming by Timothy Freke p.172

Over here, all I can find is an open space, filled with sights and sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings. But here’s the great discovery — there is simply no ‘me’ to be found at the centre of it all, no ‘me’ in charge of things. There is nothing solid here, only an openness to the constantly shifting scenery of the world, and ‘me’ or ‘I’ or ‘myself’ is just a story appearing in this open space.

All I can find here, when I look afresh at life, is the rumble of traffic, the tweeting of birds, the beating of the heart, breathing happening, and the story of a person called Jeff Foster. And this story can be a wonderful story to tell, but it cannot even begin to capture what I really am.

Now, when you look over here at this bag of flesh and bone and its associated behaviours, and when you address it as ‘Jeff’, there is a response here, because that seems to be the appropriate thing to do. Not to respond would be socially unacceptable, and this bag of flesh and bones might then be cast into the loony bin, or at least heavily medicated.

Yet, one can’t help wondering that perhaps it is dishonest to answer to a name, to identify who I am with who the world says I am. Because I certainly do not experience myself as a person, as an individual, as something separate from the world. No, if I am anything, I am this open space in which the whole world appears, and indeed I am not separate from the world which appears. If I am anything, I am what is happening, right here, right now, in this moment. If I am anything, I am this, this and this.

That’s the true meaning of nonduality. And it’s what the Buddha meant when he said: “Suffering alone exists, but none who suffer; the deed there is, but no doer thereof; Nirvana there is, but no one seeking it; the Path there is, but none who travel it.”

‘Jeff’ doesn’t even begin to capture it. ‘Jeff’ is a relic from the past, part of a narrative that everybody seems to spin for themselves and by themselves. Indeed, there appears to be as many ‘Jeffs’ as there are people who know him! This is not to deny that there’s an idea here of a ‘Jeff’ floating about in awareness, as thought. But that’s all there is, over here. There is no Jeff having thoughts of ‘Jeff’ – that’s the illusion. There is only the thought of ‘Jeff’ here, only the narrative floating through.

It all happens for nobody, it all arises in this open space, in the vastness that holds everything, lovingly, unconditionally, in the clarity that allows everything to be. And there is simply no ‘Jeff’ outside of the vastness, which is to say, there is no ‘Jeff’ at all. I simply do not exist.

‘I’ am not here. No self — no problem, as an old Zen monk once said.

And yet, and yet … to all intents and purposes, I do exist. In the eyes of the world, anyway, there most definitely is a Jeff Foster — he has a birth certificate and a National Insurance number and everything! To function in the world, a basic assumption seems to be necessary: that there is an individual here, a person. But it is an assumption, an idea, nothing more; it has no deeper reality.

With that realisation, the entire world self-liberates. Freed from the stranglehold of thought, freed from the burden of ‘me and my problems’, there is a great ease which permeates everything. Freed from goals and meanings, every moment is a goal in itself, everything is intrinsically meaningful, because every moment is all there is, or ever was. Set free from self-consciousness, anything is possible: there is no authority, there are no rules, and whatever happens just happens.

However, that doesn’t mean you go round beating up old ladies. No, when it is seen that there is no separate self, it is also seen that there are no separate ‘others’ either. No others separate from yourself, at any rate. So this is the end of violence, the end of me-versus-you.

Beyond that me-versus-you illusion, there is such intimacy, such unconditional love and acceptance, that the idea of beating up old women, or anyone else for that matter, simply falls away. That old woman is myself, and I don’t find myself beating her up. I find myself helping her across the road.

The paradox: there are no others, and yet there is such love for others, such spaciousness to allow them to be exactly as they are.

Beyond the sense of separation, there still may be pain, anger and sadness. Yet a funny thing happens: pain, anger and sadness are no longer owned by anyone. They are no longer claimed by a seeker hungry for an identity. We could say that they still happen, but because they now happen for nobody instead of somebody, they simply don’t matter anymore (since there’s nobody there to whom they could possibly matter!)

There’s pain, anger and sadness, but since there is nobody there at war with experience, these sensations just dissolve of their own accord, in their own time, as they always have done. There’s pain, anger and sadness, but there’s no problem whatsoever, and therefore no desire to be ‘free from suffering’.

Everything being talked about here is already the case, for all of us, and yes, that includes you, of course. Already, there is freedom. Already, there is nobody in control. Already, things simply arise of their own accord.

Look:

The heart beats, and you are not doing the beating. Breathing happens, and you are not doing the breathing. Sounds in the room happen, and you are not making them happen. Pain arises, and you are not causing it. Joy happens, and you have no choice. The sun rises and sets, flowers grow, wither and die, seasons change in the blink of an eye, and you are not in charge of this astonishing dream world.

The play of opposites plays itself out, and there is an undetectable silence that continuously embraces it all, allowing everything to arise exactly as it does. The entire world arises in this open space, in this vastness which is utterly free from separateness and solidity, but which embraces separateness and solidity the way a mother embraces her newborn baby.

The secret is there in your heart beating, in your breathing, in the sights and sounds and smells manifesting themselves exactly where you are, right now. The secret is here. Do you see?

This cannot be understood intellectually. But somewhere beyond the words, there can be a resonance, a recognition, and that is the place to which these words are pointing right now, a place that has no location – which is to say, it is nowhere, and everywhere. It’s there in your heartbeat. It’s there in the breathing. It’s there in the sensations in your body and the space around those sensations. It’s there in your thoughts and the gaps between them, and in the sights and sounds and smells in the room.

Yes, all life asks of you is that you see it for what it is.

~ by Jeff Foster, from The Wonder of Being

As the veil lifts, one moment’s sudden revelation completely rearranges and shifts our viewpoint; and the scene abruptly changes. In fact, this was exactly what happened to me one day while in deep meditation.

I was considering ‘Spirituality’, its study and problems, when suddenly it dawned upon me that the student-position, which I had assumed, was certainly an unreliable and unsound one.

As this actuality burst upon me, breathlessly my heart cried out, “Oh to be the great subject itself instead of a mere stidemt of it!”

Instantly there followed a moment of shining light with its electrifying transfusion, sudden and swift. As though a curtain had been raised admitting some startling new sight, I saw the indisputable fact with vivid, clear distinctness — I saw that I was the Truth ItSelf … not a student at all!

Under this flood of blazing revelation, what else could I do but exclaim further, — “Why, this means that I am the TRUTH! I am not a student trying to solve problems of human existence, but I am the absolute and changeless Truth itself!” The simplicity of all this amazed and overwhelmed me. Here in this brief but thrilling moment, I saw what years of study and research had never given me.

Immediately, I then understood Jesus’ dynamic statement, “I am the Truth!” Yes, this was it. I was not a student of Truth, endeavoring to obtain and attain certain states of consciousness, always letting go one for another higher on the scale. No, I was the Truth ItSelf!

What more then could I ask? What more could be desired? Did Truth, or true Being, have any association with a problem? Certainly not. Neither, then, did I!

“I am the Truth!” exuberantly I told myself again and again, in my newly found changed relationship. I am not trying to do, to think or to know something; but I am doing, feeling and being Truth, the Life, and the Way! Oh, the blessed wonder of light!

I saw then that the problem of human existence could never be solved … but will dissolve when we take our rightful stand as the Truth, the Life and the Way.

Now once having seen and accepted this platform, all other speculations immediately vanished, while beautiful verifications in Jesus” life and teaching came flooding my rapturous thought. How plainly now to see that Jesus never said that he was a student of Life, but insisted, “I am the Life!” Neither did he intimate that he was a follower of some particular way or system, but again and again reiterated, “I am the Way!”

No wonder he was so absolute, so completingly certain and sure. Never did he speak nor act as though he were using Truth as a means to bring about certain healing results in a material existence! His attention was NOT towards conditions, states nor beliefs, but upon that Being which is unalterable; that Principle which is fixed and absolute; that Life which is wholeness always … ‘Against such there is no law.’

So, ‘Know thyself!’ Learn Who and What you really are; the meaning of life and the fullness of all things. Then for you, wars and problems will cease and be no more; sorrows and limitations fade away; for finding yourself as you really are, you shall be in touch with every good and perfect thing; and shall live here on earth a life of peace, joy and plenty.

~ From: The Christ Within by Lillian DeWaters

Perhaps a reason that the Understanding is not a more common occurrence is that it is too simple, too close to home, too subtle. All the seeking is in the other direction, toward something other, something grander. Consider this: a common response when the Understanding happens is laughter. A common response is, “Oh, that!”

Right here, that which is most familiar to you, but overlooked because the looking has been for something else, something beyond. That’s why the finding is in stopping, in stillness. “Be still and know I am God.” Your natural state. Subtle. It is lost, overlooked if there is positive movement, direct searching, active thinking, anything but profound stillness.

A metaphor: In the retina of your eye there are two kinds of cells: cone cells and rod cells. The cones are clustered toward the center of the retina; what is in the center of your field of view is focused on them, and they register shades of light and, especially, color.

The rods are more numerous around the edge of the retina, and they pick up what is on the edge of your field of view, in your peripheral vision. They do not distinguish color, can discern only black and white, but pick out contrast better than the cones. This is why the rod cells are important for night vision, and explains an odd phenomenon; that night vision is better in your peripheral vision.

Walking in the Vermont woods at night, I learned at a young age that what you could make out in the darkness, what you could see, depended on how you looked. Repeatedly, you would see a movement in your peripheral vision and turn to look directly at it, to see only darkness. Eventually, one learns not to turn, not to look directly, but to keep it just in your peripheral vision, just at the point where you are almost not looking at it at all. That is when you can see it best.

Subtle. It is lost, overlooked if there is positive movement, direct searching, active thinking, anything but profound stillness. Focus on it, and it is gone. All of the talking, all of the asking questions, reading books, meditating, thinking, focusing, seeking, is all counterproductive because it is pushing in the wrong direction, creating activity and turbulence and noise.

Just as there is wei wu wei — the action which is not action, action which is not willed, is not volitional but witnessed as spontaneously happening: so too there is a seeing which is not seeing, a seeing which happens without trying, without looking.

… article continued here

~ From Perfect Brilliant Stillness, Beyond the Individual Self’, by David Carse

~ Pete Sumner

In life, we never know what’s coming next. As much as we want to know and plan our future, it will come as it is meant to come. So why fear? Why seek to control something we cannot control? The beauty of it is, we don’t have to know what’s going to be as we have a power within us that will create and attract whatever we may need in each moment.

Life is always ‘in the right’. It doesn’t matter if we agree with it or not, it simply is. Life will decide if we shall meet again or not. Life will bring us together again if it’s meant to be. Life will show us when it’s time to go. Life will let us know what is next. Life will guide us in the right direction. Life will bring us everything we need at the right time. Life will help us when we truly need help.

Life is more than we can imagine or ever understand. And most importantly: life is not separate from us. We don’t have a life, because we are this life.

Close your eyes and, with your hands on your chest, feel your heartbeat and breathing that has continued without fail since your birth. It’s always been there and guess what, you’re not controlling it! Have you ever realized this?

Without your hearbeat and breathing, there would be no life — these simple miracles are here to teach you to stop trying to control your life and to let it simply happen. Let life happen to you. And trust that whatever happens, is right because it is happening.

Notice that there’s something much greater within you than can be contained by your mind and body. This ’something,’ which is really not a thing at all, cannot be controlled and the more you accept this, the more life will flow — the more abundance and love you will experience.

And you will realize, that you are this love and abundance. You are life and your only responsibility is to trust this simple knowing of who you truly are.

~ by Jason Lee Mitchell

As we move about in the outer world of things, forms and appearances, one thing we notice is that everything seems to be changing all the time — everything we put together eventually comes apart — everything that is born, dies — everything that we get is eventually lost again. The leaves that grow on the trees in the spring, fall again in the autumn. Everything in this world of form seems to shift and change, including us. We are getting older.

Sometimes, if we have seen enough metaphorical leaves fall in our personal lives, we can begin to notice what is hiding behind the changing play of forms. It is often most visible to any one of us when the leaves that we were most attached to are in the midst of falling. The ever-changing nature of the world of form is a constant opportunity to notice what is amongst us and in us that doesn’t change.

The world of changing forms is issuing an invitation to notice what doesn’t change. When we look in the same way at ourselves it becomes an invitation to acknowledge that the personal form-bound mind-constructed version of who we are (that we have learned to call ourselves by as children) is not what we truly are. There is something in us that doesn’t change when appearances or personalities change.

When we notice that our personal mind-created and form-bound identity is not who we are, we can begin to see the full beauty of the world of form and yet not be devastated by its changing nature. We can move through the world of form and its constantly changing conditions, thoughts, feelings and appearances, realizing that every bit of it is as sacred as the most holy temple or mountain-top. We bow to the world of form in awe and amazement.

This is the invitation of this time when the wondrous form world has died back to its minimum — when the days are short and the nights are long and cold. At this time of year, there is a transparency about the forms of our lives. We are revealed to ourselves in our true raiment if we accept the invitation. We are life itself! We are the life rising in the baby lamb being born and the same life falling in the plants on the compost heap from last year’s garden — all at once.

All that has fallen away is still with us because we ARE what it all falls into.

~ by Alice Gardner