Grace Is Now: September 2008

9/20/08

There Are No Teachers

No one needs a teacher to BE what one is. You are THAT already, and it seems that in the story, this is pointed out to "you," by "people" who see it. But there are no "people" really, this is a beautiful dream, a story, that arises in YOU. All that is happening here is YOU, be-ing.....and loving what is.

Before seeing, after seeing - what's the difference? In reality, none at all! There never was a "before or after!" There is only THIS, here, now. YOU. Does the dream story change when This is seen? Sure it can... but I ask you, when is This not seen? Isn't it always seen just now...and now....and now? Is it ever really not seen?

And as for the story changing....it just doesn't matter, because what we ARE has no preference for this type of story, or that type of character...the dream continues, and it has nothing to do with what you are. Anything can happen! So, I say, enjoy it! (which is already happening, whether there is a "you" enjoying it or not ;-))

If you think that enlightenment means no more feelings, anger, sadness, etc...only unending bliss....well, I think "you" are going to be disappointed ;-)) (which doesn't mean that for some stories, there IS only bliss - anything can happen!) Anger is also This.....look closely, what is it really? A "negative" emotion? A contraction? Or is that just a label given to some energy that arises in YOU? Maybe anger is only "anger" for a "me." Maybe for YOU, it's Love ! Or simply what is....until it's not.

It seems in the dream that Oneness plays peek-a-boo, doesn't it? And then the character might find messages from other characters who point to that Oneness....it's lovely and completely unnecessary! And yet, there is great pleasure here, for example, in sharing....in BEING THIS....and it is no different for "you, out there" because 1) there is no "you out there," and 2) what is seemingly writing these words and expressing enjoyment IS WHAT YOU ARE.

No teacher, no student.....just YOU. Just this I AM presence, loving to be.

9/17/08

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"When all the false self-identifications are thrown away, what remains is all-embracing love."

- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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9/15/08

Perfectly So

Nothing has to change, to be more "godly," "spiritual," or "enlightened"...

There is only WHAT IS....exactly as it is...and perfectly so. Nothing can be any other way..

YOU are this "Everything." Enlightenment, Liberation, Freedom, Love, Beingness, call It what you will, This is all there is, here, now....end of story. (literally ;-)) It's really quite simple. THIS is simply how it is, right now.

Nothing has to change, to be what is....and you don't have to change to be what YOU are, which is This..

..perfectly so.

9/12/08

This Is Love

I know it's a cliché, but it's the word that comes....

THIS is Love. Everything we talk about, point to, try to explain in words....this is Love...anything that seems to be happening....tears falling, sadness, joy, table, chair, thought - it's all LOVE.

All of this, everything which appears and doesn't.....is Love. The I AM, the sense of presence/being.....Love. Look anywhere, everywhere....

...even if the eye rests on a scene of what we would call horror or pain....look.... tears fall, anger arises, maybe actions happen - it's LOVE ! Look without the filter of "mind," look with the eye that is not...and see...

There is only This. There is only Love.

9/11/08

Self or No Self

We know that there is no separate, little "I," who is a doer or thinker, apart from the Oneness...

and yet, there is a sense of I AM. What is that? Is it the "Supreme Self"(the capital "I")? Is there such a thing?

This I AM feeling/sense comes from where? Isn't it the fragrance, or emanation, of this Spaciousness, this empty Nothingness? Isn't there simply this silent peaceful indescribable Isness, out of which springs a loving-to-be vibration (I AM!)? Or one could say, an Emptiness buzzing with aliveness/presence (I AM!)?

What notices I AM? Is I AM always present? What is always present? Before any"thing" is registered? Is that an "I"/self? Or is it a verb....knowing/being/aware-ing/is-ing etc.??

Is This that you ARE, is it an "I" or Self at all? Or is it just..... ?

9/6/08

Loving to be..

..is the only thing that is ever happening..

9/2/08

Stop and See

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Everything you see, is actually what is seeing..

and what is seeing, is actually nothing

seeing no-thing

just seeing

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Quotes

Consciousness and life - both you may call God; but you are beyond both, beyond God, beyond being and not- being. ~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. ~ William Blake

Consciousness knows itself at all times, because knowing is its nature. How could something that is itself knowing, not know itself? Its knowing of itself is not the knowing of something. Its knowing of itself, is itself. Knowing is present in every experience. Consciousness is that Knowingness. ~ Rupert Spira

Wonderful Writing from Sufi Master Ibn 'Arabi

Know that He is never in anything, nor is anything in Him. He
is neither inside nor outside of anything. None can see Him,
whether with the eyes of the head or with the inner eye; nor
can any conceive Him with senses, knowledge, mind,
intelligence or imagination. Only He can see Himself; only He
can conceive Himself. None can know Him; only He can know
Himself. He sees Himself by Himself; He conceives Himself by
Himself; He knows Himself by Himself. None other than He
can see Him. None other than He can know Him. That which
hides Him is His oneness. None but Himself can hide Him. The
veil that hides Him is His own being.

He is not within you; nor are you in Him. He does not exclude
you, nor are you excluded from Him. When you are addressed
as you, do not think that you exist, with an essence and
qualities and attributes; for you never existed, nor do exist, nor
ever will exist. You have not entered into Him, nor He into
you. Without being, your essence is with Him and in Him.
Without having any identity, you are Him and He is you. If you
know yourself as nothing, then you truly know your Lord.
Otherwise, you truly know Him not.

You cannot know your Lord by making yourself nothing.
Many a wise man claims that in order to know one's Lord one
must denude oneself of the signs of one's existence, efface
one's identity, finally rid oneself of one's self. This is a mistake.
How could a thing that does not exist try to get rid of its
existence?

If you think that to know Allah depends on you ridding
yourself of yourself, then you are guilty of attributing partners
to Him, the only unforgivable sin; because you are claiming
that there is another existence besides Him, the all-existent;
that there is a you and a He.

You presume others to be other than Allah. There is nothing
other than He, but you do not know this. While you are
looking at Him you do not recognize Him. When the secret
opens to you, you will know that you are none other than He.
Then you will also know that you are the one whom He
wished, and that you are forever and will not disappear with
time, for there is no passing of time. Your attributes are His.
Without doubt, your appearance is His appearance.

Therefore, do not think anymore that you need to become
nothing, that you need to annihilate yourself in Him. If you
thought so, then you would be His veil, while a veil over Allah
is other than He. How could you be a veil that hides Him?
What hides Him is His being the One Alone.

The condition for self-knowledge is to know that if you had a
being of your own, independent of other being, then you would
neither have need to annihilate yourself in Allah nor to know
yourself. You would have been, as yourself, a God, self-
existent; while it is Allah Most High that is free from the
existence of any other God but Himself.

And when you come to know yourself, you will be sure that
you neither exist nor do not exist, whether now, or before, or
in the future. This is the meaning of _la ilaha illa Llah_, There
is no God but Allah, there is no being but His, nor any other
except Him, and He is the only One.

Know that this existence is neither you nor other than you.
You do not exist; yet you are also not a nonexistence. Your
existence is not someone else; nor does your nonexistence
make you someone else. Without being and without not-being,
your existence and your nonexistence is Allah's being.

The void is a mirror; creation is the image in it. Man is as the
eye of the image reflected in the mirror; the One who is
reflected in the image is hidden in the pupil of that eye. Thus
He sees Himself.

Is one to consider a decaying corpse or excrement as God?
Allah most high is beyond and free from such associations. We
address those who do not see a corpse as a corpse or
excrement as excrement.

Then when you see what is around you as not other-than-you,
and all and everything as the existence of the One; when you
do not see anything else with Him or in Him; but see Him in
everything as yourself and at the same time as the nonexistence
of yourself; then what you see is the Truth.

That is why the utterance became permissible for Mansur Al-
Hallaj when the words, "I am the Truth!" came from his lips;
and for Abu Yazid Al-Bistami when he cried, "Praise be to Me,
the essence, absolved of all defect!" These are not people who
have annihilated themselves in Allah; nor have they come to be
in Allah. They are eternal. They never ceased to be, for they
never were, since there is only Allah's self, Allah's essence.

So if someone says, "I am the Truth!," do not hear it from any
other than from the Truth Himself; for it is not a man who says
it, it is the word of Allah. That man who utters these words is
nothing but an image reflected in an empty mirror, one of the
infinite attributes of Allah. The reflection is the same as that
which is being reflected, and the words of the image are the
reflected words of the Real One.