be true stillness

The whole Garden of Eden story is playing out every moment. It's a direct metaphor for the temptation to incarnate in each moment as form. This is the meaning of good and evil, not some dramatic rendition of evil that does bad things Hollywood style, but the evil which it is to fall from grace. That's the story of Satan, the top guardian angel, God's right hand man, falling from grace, which means falling from God. This is theistic language, familiar as Christian doctrine, and it's also this same metaphor of the Garden of Eden. Does it say in the story that Satan appears to Eve as a serpent? But of course, the serpent is Satan, the tempter. In theistic language God is all there is, the source of everything. In non-theistic language that is the One, the stillness, the awake presence. And that's you, the still, awake presence that is the source of all that is; of good and of evil. This Satan, this serpent, depicted as a form, is actually not a form really, not a

puff of smoke says "I feel murky, I cannot see clearly" clear space says "Yes, you are a puff of smoke" puff of smoke says "Where are you, I heard your whisper?" clear space says "I am here, I am all around" puff of smoke says "Where are you, all I see is smoke?" clear space says "Yes, you are a puff of smoke, but I am all around, I am everywhere" puff of smoke says "I am looking for you. If you are everywhere why can I not see you?" clear space says "You have to look past the surface appearance, I am not the smoke that you are, though I am in the smoke. I am beyond the smoke, look further." puff of smoke says "I can see that I am smoke, and it seems that I can see a faint glimpse of you through the smoke, but it's fleeting, there's a lot of smoke in the way." clear space says "Yes, you are a puff of smoke" puff of smoke says "If you are everywhere, then you must be within m

Not all caterpillars know about butterflies. Some have seen them, and understood them to be another species, and most haven't even ever seen one, so busy they are a-munching and a-mooching. Some though have been told they are butterflies really. Occasionally by a butterfly that got noticed and stopped fluttering by to chat and lend a wing. Or by another caterpillar who heard it from someone else. Or by a chrysalis who spoke from stillness. Not all caterpillars know about chrysalises either! Some caterpillars who've seen what a butterfly is tried to grow wings, or tried jumping off things to fly. Few know they have to become a chrysalis first. And some believed a chrysalis to be a butterfly, never having seen the real thing, or maybe because a chrysalis told them so, because either the caterpillar or the chrysalis misunderstood. Not all chrysalises know about butterflies either! But they know they're not caterpillars anymore for sure. They got the message of stillness, stop

How the classic male and female responses to emotions play out in Awakening. The story so far: Men often feel that emotions are overplayed, they feel less affected by them and may even sense that they are unreal. The woman's view of this is that men are not in touch with their emotions and push down, deny them. And then they erupt at some later stage, in seemingly unrelated and often over-reactive ways. Meanwhile, women may feel that emotions are very real, and that they have a healthy connection with them which allows them to move through rather than fester. The release of emotion is freeing, there's a burst of energy from it that is undeniable. The man's view of this that women are over-emotional, driven by their emotions instead of driving them. That they suffer unnecessarily. Of course, I'm generalizing, but maybe it sounds a little bit familiar? The two sides have their supporting stories. The male that emotions are some useless by-product of life t

Ever noticed the life in Life? That which propels it, and gives it life... the juice . It's in all things, the very energy that keeps them in place, holds them. Ever noticed the life in thoughts, the juice which propels them, and gives them life? The interest in the interest, the fascination in the fascination. Not hard to notice the juice in emotion. It can seem like they have a bit too much juice, but did you ever notice it's the same juice in the bad as in the good emotions? Ever noticed it's the same juice in all things, the life in Life is the same everywhere? The whole Universe is pumped up with it and plump! Ever noticed the juice in the noticing? The life and love and intelligence which does that, it's doing it right now, and can't not do it. The juice can't be turned off, it's going into all things all the time, it's emanating. It's here if you notice it or not, no need to do anything about it, nothing to be done about it. Enough to be silen

One of our dear new friends in Spain just sent me a very beautiful email, it's prompting me to post something about the effects of Presence on those around us. I'll add the original Spanish as a comment below, but here's the gist in English: "I returned home after the Valencia satsangs very present. And after those days there was a change in my husband. He isn't a spiritual seeker, denies it all, but I think he is an obvious "no being". It's dificult to tell you what's happening. I can only tell you his words "I have been lost a long time and now I've come home". My husband is a guitarist and what comes to me is to compare what happens with the strings of a guitar. When you play a string and make it vibrate, other strings sound too in sympathy without being played. He says I give him Peace, Stillness, Freedom,... I know that I did nothing to him, and then that I did it all.... What's happening is very beautiful. Gorgeous, as Moni