God is Power

God is power. Or better: the power, which is the cause of this existence, that we have called “god”. It does not matter by what name we call it, it still is, and always will only be, power.

Since it is pure power, this power can be used for any number of things, good or bad. Both sides in a conflict often pray to their god to give them the strength to overcome their opponent. The side that wins then gives credit to the victory to their god, while the defeated party feels that it was not faithful enough to their god and therefore god did not support their cause.

According to the Bible, Moses used the power of his god to overcome the power of the Egyptian gods. I believe that if we gave god some qualities, then we would be in a better position to judge which god is going to win out over other gods. And these superior qualities are: justice, righteousness, freedom, liberation, morality, upliftment, purification, love, understanding, camaraderie, brotherhood, sharing, generosity, compassion, empathy, peace.

About Purity and Perfection

One must understand what is of paramount importance. What is important? The purity of the soul. The perfection of life. Nothing else is important.

Purity and perfection are really the same thing. In purity we fall asleep and in perfection we wake up.

We must always continue to strive for purity in all we do. We must strive to keep our heads above the water of the turbulent mental streams that are threatening to drown us. We must not get sucked into these intense whirlpools of cravings.

We must remain free from them. Free in the clarity and purity of awareness. Free in the conscious Self. Free in the knowing of “who we are.”

“Who are we?” We are conscious entities; created to experience consciousness fully. Created by consciousness; created within consciousness; created to be consciousness.

The purity and perfection of consciousness. That is who we are and that is where our true home is and has always been.

Magnificene

To get into a state of extended magnificence find something that evokes a sense of magnificence in you. This “something” can be anything, from a photo to a live sunset, from a rock to a diamond, from an insect to a whale. There is nothing that is not appropriate for this exercise.

Once you sense the magnificence, then remain in this state of magnificence until it fills you completely. Until your mind and entire being are completely saturated by it. This state is the most important state to be in. Whenever you are given a chance to be in this state, remain in it until it fills you completely.

At times, this sense of magnificence comes unexpectedly during your everyday activities. Don’t reject this gift at that moment. Use it to be in the extended state of magnificence. Be thankful for the opportunity.

The Radical Now

This is the moment. The radical moment is here. Radical! Disconnected from the moment before. The continuity of time has been shattered. The past is no more. The moment is free from all influences of the past. Radical Now. The Radical Now is here! No past exists. No future will ever exist. The Radical Now is here. Right now! This is the moment! Experience it! Now! In this magical moment! In this radical magical moment!

What “past” is holding you back? What fears and trepidations are holding you imprisoned? Be in the Radical Now and shake off all attachments. Blow them off! Brush them off your shoulders! Discard them like trash. What good are they to you in the Radical Now? They are useless in the Radical Now.

In the Radical Now! That is where you need to be! Nowhere else!

The imaginary pulls of the past have snapped! There is freedom. Liberation. In the Radical Now. No thoughts about a future have arisen. All thoughts about a past have ended.

How deep into the moment can you go? Where is the bottom of the Radical Now experience? What do you find in this deep moment? Or better, who do you find looking at you from the depth of this moment? You find the scintillating You! You are the experiencer of the Radical Now in the Radical Now!

There is You who is in love with You. There is You who is satisfied by You. That’s where life becomes a bit incestuous. There is You having relations with You in the Radical Now. There is You having intercourse with Yourself. There is you giving birth to the world! Then there is the experience of limitless scintillating bliss!

To be in the Radical Now is both a process and a state. It is a constant process. You are striving to keep your head above the raging river of life that is carrying you downstream to your ultimate destination: your annihilation!

Do not fear this annihilation. It happens when you flow into the much larger ocean of infinite existence. You will merge with something vaster, something borderless. You will have returned to the place where you had started. The drop has returned to the ocean from whence it had been lifted by the force of the sun and carried away by the force of the wind. Your journey of life has come to an end. For now!

For someone else

Do something positive for someone else. Or your life is really meaningless. Something for someone else. Being there for someone else. For someone else.

To be there for someone else when they need it. When they need it. When they are in need. Helping them when they need help. No forcing help onto others. Providing it in a way that is helpful to them. Not in a way that is convenient for me. To give more than I receive. Always more. Always giving. Like a river or a waterfall. Always being there. Always. Never stopping. Never stop from flowing. Always flowing. To serve. A cause. To help. Something. Yes, I know you want to help. You do. But don’t pit people against each other. That is not truly helping everyone. I know you want to make people stronger. Only the strong survive. The weak must be made stronger. Competition makes people stronger. It also can destroy them. The strong eat the weak. The weak cannot run this world. Strength is required to run the world. Inner strength. Razor-sharp inner strength. There also must be compassion to uplift others. No one is perfect. All have flaws. All have a potential for greatness, but not all have it at the same time. There are shopkeepers and there are shoppers. There are leaders and there are followers.

Everyone’s life is precious. All are teachers to others. All are learning from others. All can help others. Prophets and sages are needed to tell people a truth higher than the scrounging for food, shelter, and power. The higher truth of life worth living. The truth of the intangibles, of beauty and love and equality and kindness and compassion and understanding and forgiveness and grace.

The thinking mind. The conscious mind. The aware mind. The active mind. The mind conjuring up things. The brilliant mind. Flashing thoughts. Coming up with solutions. Moving forwards, always forwards. Out of the morass of yesterday into the light of today and back again. Rising and sinking. Over and over again. Gaining clarity. Losing clarity. Finding clarity again. The cycle of life. Memory prevents from falling back too far. Step by step forwards. The lure of a better tomorrow. The nostalgia of a lost happy childhood. Reliving the past is not possible. Not even in one’s thoughts. The past can never look as scary as the present. The flight into the past is avoidance of the present. The future that will be is the one being created in the present. Running away from the present to find comfort in the past is a sign of weakness. Hiding in the past is not facing the present. The present must be faced as painful as it is. There is no other way.

Belief in a god can help. Make things easier to bear. Take some of the load off, some of the responsibilities. Transferring the responsibilities to god. This frees the mind. Unload the minds. Unburdens the mind. All is god’s will. Not my will. Not the will of others. All is as god wills it. If god wanted it differently, god would have willed it differently. Be good and there will be heavenly rewards. Be bad and hellish rewards await. God is love. God is power. God is life. God is understanding. God is death. God is the cycle of life.

Still, doing something for someone else is necessary. Here on earth. God or no god. People exist. A sense of awe is required. A sense of awe at the existence of this universe. The universe exists. Particles exist. Air exists. Life exists. Thoughts exist. You and I exist. There is awe in this realization. Pure awe. Pure power. Pure being.

There Must Be Complete Integrity

There must be complete integrity.

Complete honesty.

Complete openness.

Complete truthfulness.

Complete seeing of what is.

Humility.

Peacefulness.

No troublemaking.

No attempt to put anyone down.

Not putting someone on a pedestal.

No self-promoting beyond the truth.

No exaggerations.

Knowing one’s weaknesses.

Knowing one’s dark secrets.

Looking into every corner of one’s mind with the flaming light of observation.

Hiding nothing from oneself.

Being humble in accepting advice.

Being grateful for any help offered.

Knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Always being on the side of life.

Avoid all heroic feelings.

Avoid all over-stimulations.

Always seek out peaceful solutions.

Be as non-hurtful as possible.

Don’t be aggressive.

Don’t be insensitive.

Be respectful towards all.

Don’t be wasteful.

Be appreciative.

The Stillness is Bubbling Over:

From nothing comes something. Ideas form in the mind and then become something in the external world. Expressions follow inspirations. Consciousness underlies all of it. There is awareness of it all. This awareness “knows” it all. It makes the world go around. Without this awareness, nothing would ever happen.

The primordial substance has awareness. All mysteries are revealed in this awareness. All mysteries are contained in this awareness. I am revealed in this awareness. You are revealed in this awareness.

Intelligence springs from this awareness.

The primordial substance also contains the drive to create. This drive becomes the will in all living things. The will to live. The will to move forward. The will to accomplish tasks, and so on.

It all originates from the stillness of the mind. The stillness of the mind is always watching, listening, being aware. There is awareness of your actions and your thoughts. Awareness of outer manifestations and inner manifestations: Actions and thoughts.

There is awareness of the intentions. Intentions to support or intentions to tear down. The force of will behind the intentions brings about the results. Strong will – clear results. Weak will – uncertain results.

From "The Nectar of Self-Awareness" by Jnaneshwar Maharaj

(From the Nectar of Self-Awareness, Changadev Pasasthi - letter to Changadev, page 96, sutra 16)

Quote:

Consciousness always remains in its pristine state,
Unmoved by feelings of sorrow or of joy.
Even though It may suddenly become aware of Itself,
Its state and Its unity remain forever undisturbed.

End of Quote

This quote illustrates what I have been saying frequently: Awareness sparks itself into Consciousness when it finds Itself in the manifestations of this creation; the sudden burst of the "I am"; the finding of one's Self, one's true identity in Consciousness.

Synonyms for Awareness

From the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Penguin Classics, Deluxe Edition, page 50)

[Synonyms for Awareness]

This Awareness, free from the eight extremes, such as eternalism and nihilism [and so forth],
Is called the “Middle Way”, which does not fall into any extremes.
It is called “awareness” because mindfulness is uninterrupted.
It is given the name “Nucleus of the Tathagata”
Because emptiness is [naturally] endowed with this nucleus of awareness.
If one understands this truth, one reaches perfection on all respects,
For which reason, this [awareness] is also called the “Perfection of Discriminative Awareness”.
Furthermore, it is called the “Great Seal” because it transcends the intellect and is atemporally free from extremes,
And, further, it is called the “Ground-of-all”,
Because [this awareness] is the ground of all joys and sorrows associated with cyclic existence and nirvana –
The distinction between theses being contingent on whether or not this [awareness] is realized.
[Further], this radiant and lucid awareness is itself referred to as “ordinary consciousness”,
On account of those periods when it abides in its natural state in an ordinary non-exceptional way.
Thus, however many well-conceived and pleasant-sounding names are applied to this [awareness],
In reality, those who maintain that these names do not refer to this present conscious awareness,
But to something else, above and beyond it,
Resemble someone who has already found an elephant, but is out looking for its tracks [elsewhere].

Though one were to scan the [entire] external universe,
[Searching for the nature of the mind], one would not find it.
Buddhahood cannot be attained other than through the mind.
Not recognizing this, one does indeed search for the mind externally,
Yet, how can one find [one’s own mind] when one looks for it elsewhere?
This is like the fool, for example, who, when finding himself (or herself) amidst a crowd of people,
Becomes mesmerized by the spectacle [of the crowd] and forgets himself (or herself),
Then, no longer recognizing who he (or she) is, starts searching elsewhere for himself (or herself),
Continuously mistaking others for himself (or herself).

[Similarly], since one does not discern the abiding nature,
Which is the fundamental reality of [all] things,
One is cast into cyclic existence, not knowing that appearances are to be identified with the mind,
And, not discerning one’s own mind to be buddha, nirvana becomes obscured.
The [apparent] dichotomy between cyclic existence and nirvana is due to [the dichotomy between] ignorance and awareness,
But there is [in reality] no temporal divide between these two, [even] by a single moment.

Seeing the mind as extraneous to oneself is indeed bewildering,
Yet bewilderment and non-bewilderment are of a single essence.
Since there exists no [intrinsic] dichotomy in the mental continuum of sentient beings,
The uncontrived nature of the mind is liberated just by being left in its natural state.
Yet if you remain unaware that bewilderment [originates] in the mind,
You will never understand the meaning of actual reality.
So you should observe that which naturally arises and naturally originates within your own [mind].
[First], observe [the source] from which these appearances initially originated,
[Second, observe the place] in which they abide in the interim,
And [third, observe the place] to which they will finally go.
Then, one will find that, just as, for example, a pond-dwelling crow does not stray from its pond,
Even though it flies away from the pond,
Similarly, although appearances arise from the mind,
They arise from the mind and subside into the mind of their own accord.

This nature of the mind, which is all-knowing, aware of everything, empty and radiant,
Is established to be the manifestly radiant and self-originating pristine cognition,
[Present] from the beginning, just like the sky,
As an indivisible [union] of emptiness and radiance.
This itself is actual reality.
The indication that this is [the actual reality] is that all phenomenal existence is perceived in [the single nature of] one’s own mind;
And this nature of mind is aware and radiant.
Therefore, recognize [this nature] to be like the sky!
However, this example of the sky, though used to illustrate actual reality,
Is merely a symbol, a partial and provisional illustration.
For the nature of mind is aware, empty and radiant in all respects,
While the sky is without awareness, empty, inanimate and void.
Therefore, the true understanding of the nature of mind is not illustrated by [the metaphor of] the sky.
[To achieve this understanding], let the mind remain in its own state, without distraction!

I am

There is stillness inside my being. A comforting stillness. A loving stillness. A love to be alive and a certain pride over the experience of consciousness. I must maintain this consciousness with all my power. This consciousness has arisen somehow out of the manifestations of this world and come to the fore. It exists within me and within every other thing.

The striving to be fully conscious propels all of the expressions of life. The search for consciousness is the search for absolute clarity, to know. “I am, therefore, I exist.”

There is only the moment

Today was such a “moment.” Today was a moment to be alive, to be on this planet, amongst the glorious surroundings offered so freely to the senses and mind. The freedom to walk down the sidewalk on a sunny day, feeling alive and appreciating the entirety of the spectacle.

Breathing in and out, setting one foot in front of the other, observing the passing houses and gardens, listening to the air that brings occasional sounds to the ear, feeling truly at peace.

The moment is here, now. Precious moment. All-glorious moment. Now is the giving birth of my thoughts and feelings, my aspirations. To be in the now is peaceful, without the chatter from the mind looking for a justification for its happiness. The mind just is in a place of freedom. No calls for it to look for something more somewhere else.

The fluctuations of the thinking mind have stopped, and the witnessing mind has emerged like a glorious flower opening its magnificent petals and revealing its true inner beauty. True peaceful stillness of the mind has descended upon me.

I walk on the pavement, yet I am floating on air. I glance at buildings and cars, yet I only perceive the marvelous manifestations of life I am gliding by so effortlessly. I am alive in this universe of colors and shapes, truly alive and I am thankful for being here, in this moment, to experience it all in this marvelous body of mine.