Tag: mystic

The Kiss

The Kiss

Just before I began writing this book, I came down with the flu. Breathing was a struggle, and the pain in my body was unbearable. I was so ill for so long that I didn’t think I would ever recover.
I let go of all hope of surviving – I had no choice.

I soon came to realize that my lack of hope was actually a blessing. Having given up, I could accept what was being presented in that moment – the possibility that I was very sick and might die. With that acceptance, my body relaxed and, for the first time in a long time, I was able to pray.

With all of my heart and soul, I asked for understanding as to the purpose of this illness. After a while, I felt warm all over, and I experienced something kissing me. Every aching muscle was being kissed and loved and soothed. I felt so full, so loved, and so blessed. I had received an answer to my prayer and my feeling of having been abandoned in my illness dis- solved. I saw that I really am in a relationship with God,as we all are.

Our relationship with God is no different from any other in the sense that we must learn to communicate our heartfelt needs, as we would to anyone whom we love and who loves us. The sense of being kissed has never left me and it has become one of the barometers to indicate my receptivity to God’s love. After “the kiss,” I began to heal very quickly. As I was recovering, this book was conceived.

How can we bring the kiss of God into our daily lives? How can we love ourselves as God loves us? My illness taught me that surrendering to what is, along with seeking a higher understanding, can take us to God. We must truly desire to discover the higher reason for every situation that we are in. If our desires and goals are strictly material, then we might find it harder to access a more refined state of consciousness. If we see the world as objects and circumstances that we must acquire, change or manipulate, or if we think our true reason for being is to attain some worldly desire or goal, we will miss the small, quiet voice inside of us that always seeks to expand our perspective.

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Entering the magic doorway means living every moment in relationship with God or our higher Self, recognizing that every little event or circumstance reflects the quality of that relationship. How do we treat each person we meet? Do we uplift them with our love, or judge them as inept or a bother? How do we respect our living space? Do we see it as a temple for God or a place to crash or show off? How do we work with others? Is our ego in control or our love? How do we treat our own mind and feelings? Do we treat them with respect as we would a friend? Do we listen with an open heart, or do we get angry with ourselves for having bothersome feelings and thoughts? Do we wish they would go away, and then distract ourselves so as not to feel them? How do we nourish ourselves? Is it with good, balanced food, or is it with food that creates chaos in mind and body? These are only a few examples of how we can contemplate our lives, moment by moment. In so doing, we open the magic door to the wisdom of the inner Self, and see everything we encounter as another reflection of God.

Unconditional acceptance of what is, and the intention to know the truth, is the key. Feeling victimized by life is forgetting that we truly have all the power we need within our hearts. Every moment at its essence is another opportunity to enter the vast love of God. Memorable events such as marriage or childbirth are obvious avenues, but so are “ordinary” experiences such as a visit with a beloved friend, a flower, a beautiful scent, a rainbow, a pebble, a warm blanket, nourishing food… Even events we might judge as tragic, such as divorce, the death of a child, a terminal illness, and other kinds of losses can take us to God. Whether we experience wealth or poverty, joy or sorrow, warmth or cold, chaos or quietude, our judgments must be set aside and the moment itself must be embraced with an open heart. With our love shining, all distinctions, positive and negative, disappear, and all that remains is the constant, unchanging kiss of God.

Meditation Keys – The Kiss

Day One

See every object, person and situation in life as your own God Self, abundantly presenting you with the opportunity to enter the magic door.

Day Two

Spend an entire day respecting everyone – friend, stranger, or “enemy.” Respect every object you encounter – your car, your house, your computer, a pencil, a stone… See how that feels.

Day Three

Become like a child again, exploring this world with eyes of wonder, as if everything in it were brand new.

One Kiss

onekiss

One kiss blows life into nothingness
One kiss and what was dead comes alive
One kiss and the velvety petals of a ruby red rose
Emerge from the darkness
And reach yearningly for the light.
One kiss and a breathing, living, sumptuous child
Arises from flesh
One kiss and the skies open and drop joyous tears
Onto the painter’s creation
One kiss and that which lived must die
One kiss and that which died is reborn anew
And vibrates in the ocean of forever.
One kiss and all that appeared to be
Returns to just one kiss.

Removing The Labels

Labels

Labeling ourselves and our world, and then believing these labels to be real, is the greatest obstruction to the open door of consciousness.

We perceive something, and instead of observing it as a stream of consciousness, we label it, identify with it, resist it, and then crystallize the moment, person, or event.

I once met a Chinese teacher at a time when I needed to gain a deeper understanding of ego. My intuition told me that I was to meet someone to learn something, but I had no idea who that was or how this meeting would come about. I prayed and asked for help, and the very next day, a client handed me a check for $1000 and said, “Take a trip.” I accepted the gift with gratitude but had no idea where to go. The following day, “Arizona” flashed through my mind and so I booked and boarded a flight to Scottsdale. There I rented an apartment and waited. After a few days, I accepted an invitation from an acquaintance, who asked me to accompany her to meet with a Chinese Chi Gong master. Walking into the room, I saw a powerful Chinese woman who reminded me of a fire goddess. She looked at me intently and a surge of power passed between us. I will always remember her core teaching: “The ego grabs the garbage.”

In the short time that I was with her, I reached a new understanding that our thoughts about who we are or what our present circumstances mean, or what is right or what is wrong, pass by constantly, not unlike clouds or radio waves. If we have a negative thought, it is not a problem. It’s what we do with such thought forms that gives rise to painful emotions or a limited negative reality. When we grab hold of a passing thought and say, “Yes, this is me, I am bad, I am unworthy,” then our consciousness reflects that belief and we experience a reality of unworthiness.

To become free of labels is to become a Master, witness- ing the movement of consciousness as the clouds go by, knowing that blue sky exists eternally in the back- ground. We need to identify ourselves with the blue sky, not the clouds that constantly dissipate and change. When we don’t witness our thoughts and judgments, we become the labels and live in our egos. The problems begin when we believe that every thought, feeling, and sensation that appears belongs to us – when we tell ourselves that this is my feeling, my thought, my body, my image… These emotions, feelings, thoughts, and bodies no more belong to us than a cloud belongs to the sky. Imagine the blue sky perceiving a passing cloud, and then contracting itself and saying, “I am not this expansiveness; I am that cloud!” Absurd though it is, we do it continually. “I am not Love and pure consciousness, I am a woman,” or “I am a wealthy entrepreneur,” or “I am a sad person,” or “I am a good and happy person,” or “I am an alcoholic,” or “I am an intellectual”…

We are so identified with our labels, that we often deny and misunderstand ego, assuming it to mean self-aggrandizement. We think that to view ourselves to be Love and pure consciousness means that we are conceited. However, ego is anything that makes us believe that we are just a cloud separate from that clear blue sky of consciousness; this includes beliefs about our unworthiness as well as beliefs about being more special than others. As we remove the labels by not grabbing hold of them as they stream through our thoughts, we may still experience old, toxic labels we’ve previously grabbed. These labels may have become fixed and are now being mirrored by people in everyday situations. Recognizing that the appearance of these reflections, feelings, thoughts, and/or physical sensations reflects a cleansing of our energy field can help us release them. Discharging these old, heavy identities is like allowing poison to leave our system, freeing us to feel light and joyful like the infinite blue sky that we know ourselves to be.

Meditation Keys

Removing the Labels Think of one negative thought about yourself that you
have believed to be true.
Spend a few moments contemplating this negative thought form that you have chosen.
Let yourself fully experience the belief that you really are that thought form. Notice the emotional state that it produces within you.
Now return again to who you were before the label or thought form arose. Witness the sequence of events that takes place:
The thought passes through.
The ego grabs the thought and identifies with it.
You now believe you are bad, ugly, unloving or stupid or whatever the negative label or thought form may be. Emotion wells up and you feel terrible.
You feel worthless and abandoned by God.
Now start over again.
The thought passes through.
Witness it passing through you like a cloud and let it pass.
Don’t grab it.
Recognize that this is where true freedom lies!

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