Just jump...

Jaya, our teacher from the Open Dharma meditation retreat this past weekend at The Stone House, shared a beautiful and poignant visual that brilliantly described this experience of expanding consciousness, what it feels like. She said it's as if we are living in a fishbowl floating within the ocean.

Hit me right between the eyes and got me thinking...

We swim around in this fishbowl thinking that the limitations of the bowl - our stories, our fears, our judgments - are all there is to life. Many of us are happy living out our entire lives in the fishbowl; but some of us are driven by a persistent, mysterious impulse toward liberation for ourselves and for others and to have our work in the world come from this deeper, more empowered & open-hearted space.

I've felt this persistent impulse or ache in my soul for as long as I can remember but didn't understand or have the language for it. Now I do.

Through committment to deepening spiritual practice (reading, meditation, prayer, service, etc.), our awareness of the ocean around us expands and we realize that all we have to do is swim out of this fishbowl to experience true freedom.

And what does that freedom feel like?

For me it feels like dropping into an unlimited capacity for love, compassion, joy, forgiveness. There's a flow and ease to life that is independent of circumstances. I feel connected to everyone and everything with an insatiable desire to serve others in a deep and meaningful way.

It also at times feels scary, exhausting, vulnerable and insecure because the ocean is so vast and uncontrollable...until I remember what enlightened masters like Jesus and Buddha have always taught - that the unseen Power that governs universal life (God, Spirit, etc.) is not separate from us. It is me, it is you, and we are that. I am the ocean and the ocean is me. So what is there to fear?

Sometimes I'm spacious, centered and courageous enough to swim out into the ocean and rest in that freedom of being; sometimes I swim around in the fishbowl I know so well. I'm learning there's nothing right or wrong about hanging out in the bowl, but it is my choice now. That's the journey, the path. If I had to describe my ultimate reason for being on this planet at this time I'd say it is to be part of and contribute to this momentum toward liberation...for all.

I love roller coasters and swimming out of the fishbowl into the ocean feels kinda like I'm on the biggest, baddest coaster...scared and exhilarated at the same time. I guess I'll just throw my arms in the air and yell weeeeeeeeee!

What a wild ride man.

Be still my heart...

"Once the heart is still, we can meet our deepest beliefs by practicing openness. Consider how a flower knows when it's time to bloom. Rather than preparing itself for a particular moment, it seems that a flower stays true to a life of leaning toward the light and to a life of continually opening in the presence of light. The way to our deepest beliefs is the same. For the life of the soul opens like an unseeable flower we carry within that is always leaning toward the light, whether we want to or not. Though we have the choice whether to open ourselves to that light or not."

- Mark Nepo

Working with the monkey that is our mind

Our busy minds often disturb that feeling of Oneness just like kids might disturb a parent who is trying to meditate. There is nothing wrong with the kids (your mind)...the practice is to purify and discipline OUR minds so we are less inclined to feel disturbed and can rest in that feeling of Oneness anytime, anywhere...even when kids want to just play.

Our mind is not the enemy...it's just doing what it is designed to do. Practices like reading spiritual books, prayer, selfless service and meditation help us to continuously calm and cleanse the mind so that it can serve our awakening to our true Self. Then we give ourSelves away for the benefit of others.

"Every one of you is a Buddha. I cannot make you a Buddha. You have to awaken the Buddha within you" - Buddha

"The kingdom of heaven is within" - Jesus

Idk

"It is not until we have fully come to understand the impossibility of knowing anything for sure, that we can let go, stop working so hard at knowing, and allow the truth to come into our lives as a gift. At some point, the sage stops seeking knowledge and gains wisdom.” -- a wise sage

Pieces

We are God's love broken into many living, breathing pieces to be given away, over and over again...