Truth and Distortions

It's so important to realize how we value our relationship with Truth. What is it about our relationship that keeps us inspired and open to Grace? And just as importantly- what blocks it?

For me, it is Love that keeps me inspired. It's always been Love. And the deep desire to serve. So, in essence this is my Truth. It's what keeps me on my path. It's what has kept me opening to Grace and deep seeing.

And in any given moment, something might show up that gets in the way of this Truth. Is it some story of something happening at work? Or is it some fear about the future? These are what I call distortions....because they are distorting this moment. Like an overlay, or a block.

We know what it feels like when a distortion wants to take hold. When it comes in- as thought, belief or fear, and sabotages our Truth. It can even weigh us down, and take away our inspiration. This is because when a distortion comes in, and the consciousness that we are merges with that distortion- we are seeing through a viewpoint that is distorted- we are not seeing through the unlimited view. So, it is vital that we recognize that is what we are seeing through.

Now, the tendency for the distorted view is to fight with the distortion. To judge it. To want it to go away. The distorted view is the egocentric view. It is seeing the distortion as something problematic. Maybe it is evaluating it, or defining it as something. Distortions can be a million different things to the distorted view.

So we go on, and we fight the distortions because we don't want them. We fight them because there is some judgement about them. Or we may avoid them entirely. Until we run out of juice to do that. Maybe Life happens. And one day instead we open. We come back to our Truth. We come back to our Love.

What if we were to open up to what we love- in this moment- so that even the distortions can be seen as a way back to our Love. All it takes is a simple recognition that there is a distortion being offered to us. Because it is essential that we do not judge the distortions. They are arising within our awareness- to be used as a means to come back to our Truth.

The Beloved is offering distortions/thoughts/beliefs/ideas/opinions to us so that we can differentiate them from our Love. It's kind of like Dodgeball. Remember that game? The thoughts and distortions are coming at us- at the place we view from.- which is simply the egoic view. The  ego is always getting the bad rap, because of it's tendency to merge with the distortions being offered to it. Yet within that egoic view is also the power to differentiate between distortions and emptiness. This is where the term comes from, "The way to Nirvana is through Samsara." 

 The distortions are a manifested part of our Self. They are not separate- but they are manifested- they are not essential. Yet they are part of our journey in learning to differentiate between Truth and Distortion. To use this tool, that is from ego- to differentiate- is an extremely powerful way to embody the Truth. It is standing in the fire- yielding the sword of discrimination- with Love. Not to fight the distortions, but to say yes to the opportunity. For the distortions are all coming from Love- from the Beloved's Love for the soul. To set the soul free.

Working with Opposites

We all know what it's like to resist a certain energy within our Being, or what it feels like to want to establish a certain energy. These experiences- if we really examine them- are all simply states of consciousness. So, if we are grasping or resisting anything within, we are attempting at controlling states of consciousness.

But it has come to my awareness, that ALL states of consciousness exist within our humanity. I have given it enough attention to notice that if I wanted to, I can always access an awareness of the opposite of what I am experiencing. I may not be able to manifest it (like if I was experiencing fear, I can't necessarily manifest "no fear"). Yet, I can sense that that state of "no fear" does exist within my Being.

This is a huge topic, so I am just scratching the surface here.

When Krishna revealed his true Self to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita, he was revealing the infinite states of consciousness, and all the resulting manifestations within his awareness. It was a profound teaching, and it was meant to be applied.

What if we began using our body to determine whether we are grasping or resisting some state? If we pay attention to it, we can see that the body's own nervous system is automatically doing this constantly- this is caused by the beliefs and ideas that our nervous system has encoded in it.

I have earnestly begun showing my nervous system that it is capable of including all states- using the one that it is experiencing, and then being aware of its opposite. Every state of consciousness has an opposite - every single time.

I don't try to grasp the opposite- or resist it. From awareness, there is no judgement, so no resistance or grasping. 

Then I allow my nervous system to SENSE the states in between those opposites. And somewhere that field meets- within my Being- as pure alive potential.

This makes room for all states of consciousness to remain, and it also allows the field of consciousness to transform itself into the state/perception that it deems appropriate and spontaneously authentic for this moment. Ah-ha!

And this, my friends, is how we are meant to live. Spontaneously alive and authentically responding to every new situation without any "old" beliefs or understanding distorting it.

The Essential Light of Grace

One of the things I learned early on in my journey is that I needed to be really honest with myself. And when I say honest, I mean that that if I avoided myself in anyway, I was going to miss out on something that I loved more than anything else in the entire Universe. If I wasn't honest with myself, I would not be open for Grace.

We need Grace. Our deepest, longest-lasting shifts depend on Grace. We can have little insights here and there, and we can even have deep shifts of consciousness, but if we want to stay inspired to keep evolving- to know our deepest potential, and to have complete faith in Life- we need Grace. For Grace is Love...and when we really experience this right within our own Being, we know we are right where we want to be. When we feel the Love blooming in our Being, we want that again and again for ourselves, and for the world. The love of Grace keeps us going- way beyond what "we" might think we need or want for ourselves. Grace begins to use us- for the bigger picture. For the whole.

Being honest with ourselves- or telling the truth- is the absolute door-opener for Grace. Telling the truth is what lights the fire of Grace. So why is it so difficult to be with Grace all the time?

Most people are judging themselves. When we judge- we are covering up beliefs and ideas that we think we know. Judgement says, "it should be this way, and not this way. Or this is true, and this isn't." Those are all beliefs, and they judge anything that is in opposition. And so, they obstruct an opportunity to tell the truth.

Truth-telling is a skill. The more we do it, the better we get at it. And even though it brings us into the heart of vulnerability- it also brings us face to face with what we love! The Self. Grace. The Beloved. When we tell the truth, this is what awaits our vision. So, this is why telling the truth becomes something that we don't want to ever mess with. It becomes our way to open doors that we never knew were there. And telling the truth is something that is already happening- so there is no place to get to. Everything we need for Grace is already here. We just need to recognize it, and learn to utilize it.