The sacred, and all qualities of unconditional love such as beauty, exist only as a response from within.
It is the quality of attention we give to each moment which, by degree, turns the secular into the sacred.
Also, personal chaos and all qualities of fear and separation exist only as a reaction from within.
My experience of life is wholly my responsibility, as I attract my circumstances and my will is the sole determinant of my reaction or response to them.
While it may be much easier to blame others or bad luck than to face myself honestly, accepting full responsibility for my life is the most joyful and freeing choice I can make.
On the easy path there is no maturing, and one may grow old while never leaving the emotional maturity of a child. No matter the ‘outer’ achievements, one who departs from this lifetime in such a state has not fulfilled their soul purpose. This is, of course, my personal view.
It is relatively easy to feel a response of beauty to beautiful circumstances.
How can there be beautiful circumstances when beauty only exists as a response from within?
Though in actuality nothing is external, and nothing is inherently beautiful, in the 3D holographic world there is an illusion of ‘the other’ and ‘me.’ In this illusion, outer circumstances provide stimuli to which I can react or respond.
Some of the stimuli provided by ‘outer circumstances’, a stunning sunset, an architecture of symmetry and elegance, evoke in the majority a response of beauty from within.
The test comes to feel the same inner expansion in the midst of a setting deemed unpleasant by the personality. One does not pass this test by study or effort, but by subtle acts of will in times of opportunity presented by Life.
Reactions can also be subtle.
Reactions can also be subtle, barely noticeable, slight downturns or withdrawals within which lead to smoldering resentment, melancholy, a closed heart.
Can I feel unconditional love towards the one attacking me? Can I feel authentic compassion and understanding towards a person or situation which utterly repels me? Can I consciously open my closed heart?
Yes, when the ‘who I am’ lets go of control and allows the ‘what I am’ to be in my body.
The ‘what I am’ is deeper than typical labels of gender or role. It is the essence, the core of my being, the one consciousness within all bodies.
Reaction or response? It’s a choice.
Choosing a response which allows that essence to expand is riding the current through awareness to the One. Though there is actually no separation, in the illusion the separation seems real.
I surmise that the ultimate purpose of the illusion and the tests is to grow souls. Whose purpose? The ‘what I am.’
‘Riding the wave’ turns the unskilled reaction into a skillful response.
It is simply a choice, made difficult by the stubbornness of habits of the conditioned mind.
Those habits, though, melt like ice under the sun of the resolute will.
Then it is a choice again, to apply that determined will to change old habits, to expand the essence from within, and persevering, to see new growth.
Always plugging for the Heart Breathing Moving Meditation, I continue to experience it as the most dependable and supportive companion on the path of spiritual empowerment.
A thought from Tom (Montalk) relating to the self awareness and spiritual empowerment of this post:
To be what the Matrix is not, we must do what the followers of the Matrix are not doing. Too many people have sloppy thinking and personalities shaped solely by societal expectations, fallible authority figures, biological drives, and the five senses.
Therefore we must sharpen our minds, purify our personalities, and place these in service of spiritual intuition and noble ideals. Only through a higher guidance system that transcends logic and physical perception can we ever hope to exit the cages of conformity.
Mind and heart, reason and intuition, intellect and spirit must work together, for each alone is not enough. That is the first and most important key to transcending the Matrix Control System….
– MONTALK (used with permission)
Spiritual Empowerment – A Heart That Is Ready for Anything
by Tara Brach (used with permission)
When we are trying to control life, we are removed from presence, and act in ways that separate us from others and solidify the experience of being an insecure self.
This talk explores our often unconscious strategies of seeking power, and the ways that mindful and compassionate awareness reconnects us to the source of true empowerment.
When empowered we tap into the universal flow of love, wisdom and creativity. We are free to respond to life with “a heart that is ready for anything.”
Originally published at www.wholehuman.emanatepresence.com