Contemplation Practices

Contemplation is continuous.  It’s like you’re constantly paying attention to one thing.  Let’s say that your assignment for the day is to become aware of the intrinsic perfection and beauty of all that exists, the holiness and the sacredness of all of creation  Wow. That’ll keep you busy for the next 20, 30 years! But in the orientation, you say, “Dear God, I’m trying to see the perfection and beauty of all of existence and I ask for thy blessing.”  There’s supplication to God to help you on this trip and then you’ve stated your intention.  Your intention is to go beyond the linear, beyond perception, beyond your thoughts, opinions, and all of that narcissistic stuff about the world, and see the world s it exists  You’re going past differentiation between perception and essence.

What you’re really asking in meditation and contemplation is to go beyond duality, to stop interpreting perception as reality.  Instead, to sense the essence of things, to sense the exquisite.  For instance, this morning I walked around and it was still dark, and suddenly in the darkness, I heard this loud purr.  And that was my white kitty, picking up the energy of that which I am.  When I pick up his energy, the interaction of those two energies sends us both into a state of bliss, happiness, contentment, ad love, with the joyful presence of God.

The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins: Classic Teachings on Spiritual Truth and Enlightenment, Ch. 8, pg. 145-146.   Purchase this book through Amazon or Hay House, Inc.

 

The Willingness to Surrender

 

The Willingness to surrender the payoff of the ego allows you to let everything go experientially as it arises.  This includes the payoff of grief, anger, resentment, or hatred. With surrender, you have to choose.  What do you surrender to God in the way of surrender? What does devotion mean? I love thee, Oh Lord, greater than I love the glee I get out of my hatreds, my wickedness, my shame, my guilt, my revenge.  Either you love God or you love self-pity.  It’s always really a choice.  Am I willing to surrender this for the love of God, or not?  To become enlightened, that power has to be strong.  You have to be willing to give up everything for God…This is because at the last moment before the ultimate experience reveals itself ( or condition takes over, rather), you will be asked to surrender your life.

The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins, Ch. 5, pg. 69-70

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Is Any Endeavor that is not ‘Spiritual’ a Waste of Time?

It is not the action itself but the context of that action which determines whether it is spiritual or not.  Context is set by intention. Motive, though, is what makes the difference. One can earn money out of love for one’s family, company, country, or all mankind, or one can make money out of fear, greed, or selfishness.  If we view our work as a contribution to society, it then becomes a gift no matter how seemingly simple it may be.  To peel potatoes out of love for one’s family or for the benefit of those who need to eat is spiritually uplifting to the Self and the world.

One makes a gift of one’s life and endeavors by sanctifying it with love, devotion, and selfless service.  That is the way of the heart to God. In that way, domestic life becomes a form of worship and the source of joy to all.  When one seeks to uplift others, we are uplifted in the process.  Giving is therefore self-rewarding for there is actually no ‘other’ that is being given to.  Every kind thought or smile is therefore spiritual and benefits oneself as well as all the world.

The Eye of the I, Ch. 17, pg. 252

 

Looking at Feelings and Our Interpersonal Relationships

Looking at the feelings on the level of interpersonal relationships, we now discover another law of consciousness. Our feelings and thoughts always have an effect on other persons and affect our relationships whether these thoughts or feelings are verbalized, expressed, or not.  We can likely intuit the truth of this law of consciousness from our own experience.  We generally know, for example, when someone is angry toward us, even if they say nothing about it.  Sensing their repressed angry feeling, we might ask, “Is something wrong?” Even when they reply, “Oh nothing,” we are still aware of the energy of anger and upset.

It is somewhat dismaying to discover the truth of this interfacing at the energetic level, but anyone can discover it by inner investigation.  The overall attitudes we hold about another person are influencing that other person’s feelings and attitudes about us whether we express them or not.

When first discovering the truth of this we might go through sort of a mild paranoia.  Most everyone is brought up to believe that our thoughts and feelings are private affairs and nobody else’s business, that minds are separated and that emotions happen only within the confines of the body.  As we begin to investigate this area, we find that often the set of feelings we hold about another person is mirrored back to us by their attitude and that, when we change our inner attitude about them, their attitude changes abruptly. We are unconsciously influencing others all the time because of the feeling we hold about them.  As we become more intuitive, we will laugh at our former naiveté.

The only way to get over this initial paranoia is to clean up our own act.  Finding out what needs to be cleaned up is simple and easy. Just look at what you would not want others to know about you and begin to surrender it!

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 18, pg. 258-259

Love – The 500 Level

The 500 level is characterized by the development of a Love that is unconditional, unchanging and permanent.  It does not fluctuate because its source within the person who loves is not dependent on external conditions.  Loving is a state of being.  It is a way of relating to the world that is forgiving, nurturing, and supportive.  Love is not intellectual and  it does not proceed from the mind.  Love emanates from the heart.  It has the capacity to lift others and accomplish great feats because of its purity of motive.

At this level of development the capacity to discern essence becomes predominant; the core of an issue becomes the center of focus.  As reason is bypassed, there arises the capacity for instantaneous recognition of the totality of a problem and a major expansion of context, especially regarding time and process.  Reason deals only with particulars, whereas Love deals with wholes.  This ability, often ascribed to intuition, is the capacity for instantaneous understanding without resorting to sequential symbol processing.  This apparently abstract phenomenon is in fact, quite concrete; it is accompanied by a measurable release of endorphins in the brain.

Love takes no position and thus is global, rising above the separation of positionality.  It is then possible to be “one with another,” as there are no longer any barriers.  Love is therefore inclusive and expands the sense of self progressively.  Love focuses on the goodness of life in all its expressions and augments that which is positive.  It dissolves negativity by recontextualizing it rather than by attacking it.

Power vs Force, ch. 4, pg. 112-113

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