Rediscover paradise

Notice though often overlooked or temporarily forgotten, we are one with Nature. Freedom is calling each of us on a unique path of remembering. This desire will take One to where it rises from: Self. All other desires burn in the fire of the divine Sun. An archer metaphor suits. Although our intentions and actions are under our control, the direction taken by the arrow as it leaves our bow of life is influenced by variables beyond our control. How we respond as the arrow flies is up to us. Do we rise up to a higher level, appreciate life from a whole new vantage point? All Nature calls us away from suffering and fear into our own Divine Being. Any sense of separation from the Divine, from Truth, is merely imagined into experience. This is how suffering is born. The unchanging, ever-present Truth in the hearts of All. The world is a mosaic of expressions in which each of us is invited to awaken. To discover paradise is already all around us is also to recognise paradise within. The serenity in Love is a kind of paradise. The Truth is Self-evident.

(platonic solid merkabah art by cosmicarmour.com )

Notice as initiates, we quest for insight into our own creation. This is about remembering our Soul's purpose along a journey to growing awareness. Within us is power to access information that links past, present and future, where time stands still and All is understood. As we uncover True Nature, we realize a human being is the alchemical lab, a cosmic technology cultivated in a system outside linear time. The human being, consciousness and body, form the laboratory where alchemy happens, where the philosophers’ stone does its work to grant immortality. The human consciousness, mind and heart are tools used by the cosmic magician. Alchemy involves actual substances on the subtle or essential dimension and not on the corporeal level. The mind, heart and body are conduits. The more we recognize them as conduits of cosmic energy, the more the elixir of eternal life flows through veins of the human consciousness, revealing the light that illuminates itself by illuminating obstacles in its way. By illuminating itself, this light (our Nature) illuminates whatever it encounters. Alchemists spent ages on quests for this "Holy Grail." They viewed it the final magnum opus, or great work of spiritual and material transmutation. Alchemists widely believed it was an object to be made or discovered. Some thought it was a stone, others, a liquid or gas. Yet, some also sensed this stone as a metaphor. It is an analogy here. Imagine the key to the secrets of existence, True Nature, is so mysterious and so invisible that it reveals itself in stages. We can only experience True Nature in the many ways/ faces it presents itself, and yet it is always one thing.

Moving beyond boredom

There is a Zen teaching story about a student who comes to the Master and tells him, "I'm getting really bored with just feeling my breath coming in and going out all the time. Don't you have a meditation practice that is more exciting?"

The Zen Master replied, "Well, yes. You are now ready for a greater teaching. Follow me." And so, the Master led the student into a courtyard and approached a large barrel of water. "Gaze into the barrel," said the Master. As the student eagerly leaned over and peered in, the Zen Master suddenly pushed the student's head into the water. Being quite strong, the Master was able to hold the student under the water for quite a while, even though the student struggled desperately. 

Finally, the Master let the student come up for air, and as the student gasped the Master asked, "So... is that breath boring?"

We are often taught to crave drama and struggle, yet do we really need them? We are also taught to believe the breath is "nothing special." After all, it happens without us. However, as we pay closer attention to the breath, recall what it is to breathe consciously, we move beyond boredom, into what we deny or overlook. In fact, as we focus on the breath, we engage in what truly matters, and what we seek is 'in plain sight' or 'in plain breath'.

While breathing exercises are growing in popularity, the rhythm of the breath itself is a language that can be decoded. Insight we gain has potential to positively impact our lives.  What is it you desire most? To reclaim power? find new confidence? Be more accepting of who you are? 

It is as if the answer or solution we seek has hidden Itself in the most obvious place. What are we ready to see about the nature of our choices? Which stage of awareness are we willing to reach? 

It all comes down to this

It is very simple to understand the human and its ego. Yet, one cannot understand the being.  The journey of the human+being is to begin to see the nature of each part and bring them together or begin to recognize how they are inter-connected.

The human ego thinks it is a separate individual. The human exists in perceived time and space that it imagines is filled with objects, concepts and references. Each human creates his own life, reality and sense of things, his own thinking. The individual thinks it has free will and is unaware of how he thinks things into being.  By watching the human, you get acquainted with the being.

The being resides in the changeless now.  The nature of this now is love.  This is the changeless moment where there is no memory such as the moment of giving birth. There is no ego in this kind of love. The very awareness of such love is being.  Now contains the present moment. The present contains your past and future.  Love and freedom are natural expressions of being in the unchanging now which is eternal. Being is the only reality.  Divine will is the only will.  You arise from and dissolve into the divine. Everything you do, you do it for feelings you imagine having.

Live the truth of yourself

Live the truth of yourself.  Who you truly are exists beyond all your illusions and fear. Humans create mental barriers to block seeing true self.  Fear is warden of this imaginary prison.

Know everyone is a messenger bringing self a message from the heart and soul. May you recognize the soulful message of loving kindness. Share who you are in all you do and do not do, all you say and all you do not say. Be aware of all you are and always have been, all you will forever be. Every thought you create, every choice you make, either conceals the love you are or expands on it. Notice how it feels to be aware that every being, all things, are divine.