Unity Consciousness

Sometimes words get so confusing. You just have to toss them away and get quiet.

It doesn't matter what you call it when you get quiet. Call it being. Call it witnessing. Call it time-out.

The idea is to sink down beneath the layer of mind that wants to define everything and know what to expect from life before it happens.

Unity consciousness is not dualistic or exclusive. In unity consciousness, black and white are mutually valid assumptions, and there are infinite shades of gray.

People ask for a step by step approach to unity consciousness, but all you can give them is step one: get quiet.

Turn your attention inward. Breathe and be. The rest will take care of itself.

Paul Ferrini 2012

As the year draws to a close we have been reflecting upon how we have deepened our awareness in the last 12 months. There have been many events that have challenged us to stay present with unconditional love in every moment.

These are exciting times because we are given many opportunities to practice. Many teachers have come into the mainstream to give us tools and techniques that are both helpful and easy to use. Ancient wisdom has become accessible at the touch of a button and we are able to share our ideas and experiences as never before.

Christine offers once again this illustration of how we can rejoin with our Greater Knowing. It can be helpful to hold this image in our minds and breathe it into reality whenever we are tempted to forget the truth of who we are and join with fear and guilt.  

Thank you for joining us on our journey back to our Selves.

Facing Pain

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

 

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

…Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen.”

Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet, 1923).

 

Melanie 2012

 

As the year draws to a close, Light Tree has been reflecting upon the nature of the challenges that have arisen in our collective lives recently. Like many of you, we have felt deeply into the discomfort that arises from participation in daily life. It is clear that In order to deepen our experience of love, we inevitably feel pain too.

We have found that the way to transcend pain, (fear, guilt or anger) is to turn and face it squarely. As long as we turn away from our unseen hurts, the healing power within them remains evasive. Self pity often serves as a distraction to the unfolding of this process.

Instead, we must approach them with equanimity, neither avoiding nor clinging to their seeming selves. Yes, this takes real courage and sometimes we are gripped by confusion, but if we stand firm and keep affirming our innocence, it’s surprising how quickly we can move through it.

If we can hold an attitude of love and gratitude in our hearts while affirming that we forgive ourselves for buying into an illusion, we make room for the miracle to occur.

Deep down, if we are committed to remembering our true nature the dross of unreality falls away and we intuitively know what to do. The hand of the Unseen guides our actions and we are amused when we view the dramatic comedy that we have created to render our unhealed parts visible.

     

 

 

  

Awareness

Beneath the judgment layer of the mind
is the witness who sees what is going on
without judging it.

The witness neither resists thoughts
nor identifies with them,
but simply observes them as they come and go.

When we get quiet, we become the witness.
Thoughts come and go, but we know
that we are not those thoughts.

We rest in something larger than thought,
You can call it awareness.
You can call it silence.

It is the place from which thoughts spring
and to which they return.

There, mind is clear, like the surface of a lake
when there is no wind.
There, mind is at peace. 

Paul Ferrini 

 

Melanie 2012

 

At Light Tree we have been sharing ways that we stay with awareness, especially when the world calls us to anger and judgement over situations that appear to be unfair. Certainly there are no shortages of opportunities to practice! 

We have come to see that it is futile to keep joining the victim-hood merry-go-round to keep the story going. The sooner we recognize what is happening and move on the better. Why keep mucking around in the pain for longer than we have to? Yes, we may need to feel the bodily sensations as fully as we can, but then we move on.

When this happens and we begin to turn our confusion and misunderstanding over to Spirit there is not always the immediate relief that we might hope for. But if we stay with our forgiveness practice we join the flow of life and choose not to join with the obstacles that appear on our screen.

 

We keep choosing love over and over until we suddenly realize there has been a shift. Just when we least expect it healing occurs and we have crossed the stream that seemed as if it was blocking the way. We laugh when we realize that we had almost convinced ourselves that we will drown this time for sure.

Nope, just another bad dream that seemed real at the time. We have become the witness and are not a victim of the world we see….What a relief. 

 

I Am Presence

“I am the light shining upon all things.

I am the sum of everything,
For everything has come forth from me,
and towards me everything unfolds.
Split a piece of wood and there I am,
Pick up a stone and you will find me there.”

Logion 77 (The Gospel of Thomas).

The quality of awareness that is demonstrated in this saying reveals how the “One-ness” that is shared by all of us is part of a dynamic whole. Our understanding is that this is part of the perfect, untouchable aspect of all living things and is eternal and omnipresent, whether we are aware of it or not.

 

 

We can always find a deep peace dwelling within ourselves if we are willing to be patient. This peace is an aspect of the eternal, living presence which some call God. Others do not perceive it as a part of a divine presence, but as a “luminous emptiness", an unknowable but vast sea of love and wisdom.

 

 

 

Regardless of the names we give it, this presence exists in all of us. For example, whenever we have an experience of peace we are calling upon this indwelling presence. We have ‘resonance’ with it because it is an aspect of our True Self already. We don’t need to name it, merely drop into the heart and as Buddha advises, ‘experience it for ourselves’.

Wow! We can simply let go of all the stories, names, meanings and symbols and simply return to our heart knowing. Religions, creeds and customs are meaningless unless we engage them as teaching devices. We can do this by sitting with the aspects that resonate with us and seeing how they bring a more expanded awareness to the surface.

In a contemplative practice the heart sends its fully formed messages to our mind. They are far more complex and complete than we can create with the efforts of past interpretations and established meanings…..Try it; it’s easier than you think.

 

A word about experience vs. belief

“Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described and it cannot be explained”.

Frances Vaughan and Roger Walsh (Gifts from A Course In Miracles, 1995).

 

 

Recently we are having and sharing deeper experiences of One-ness, or Non-Duality. What does this mean to us?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have been clear from the outset that we are interested only in experiencing Divine Presence, not following a specific doctrine or religion of any kind. We agree that Truth reveals itself when we are ready. It is a heart knowing, not an intellectual or pro-scribed explanation written by someone outside of ourselves. It does not aim to convince or convert.

At Light Tree we only want to know what is true. We don’t concern ourselves with established teachings unless we sit with them and they resonate within us in some way. Even then, we surrender what we think we know and ask our Divine guidance for clarity. Only by quiet contemplation and prayer can we begin to glimpse what our inner Self is conveying in each moment.

Buddhism has established a time-tested methodology for awakening. Many of us who are born in the west have longed for a way into an authentic experience of ourselves, but are disinterested in mainstream religious practices and ideologies that do not ring true for us. At Light Tree, The Course In Miracles continues to be the gold standard for non-dualism because it clearly shows us how to un-do the ego and its limited world-view.

Having said this, we have found many contemporary teachers that can be accessed through the miracle of e-technologies or books. Non-Duality reveals itself through many traditions and many teachers, our Selves included. Cynthia Bourgeault, Episcopalian Minister and established scholar of Contemplative Christianity aims to recapture the original teachings of Jesus. She ably demonstrates ways that we can apply this direct knowing in our everyday lives.

In The Wisdom Jesus and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene she reveals simple and well established practices that are accessible to those who are more familiar with the Christian tradition. Centering prayer and Lectio divina are indispensable tools for those wanting a direct experience of Divine One-ness.

In the next series of blogs we aim to explore some of the direct teachings we have experienced and hope that by discussing them we will be better able to deepen our understanding of these rich resources. We trust you will be inspired to delve deeper into your own awakening process as a result.

Falling Asleep or Waking Up

Falling Asleep or Waking Up:  Which Am I More Afraid of?

Recently in a group meditation, I found myself giggling irresistibly – hardly appropriate behaviour some might say.  In the background, we were playing a CD entitled “Holy Harmony,” an especially soft, gentle, lullingly repetitive, vocal ensemble.  For some reason, I was reminded of a skit from the Canadian SCTV comedy show popular in the 1980s. In it, one of the comedians, Eugene Levy, does a take-off of the generation of American singers called “crooners,” Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Perry Como, among others.  When I was growing up they were still household names.  Perry Como was probably the most mellow of the lot.  He took crooning to a whole new level of slow, smooth, and quiet. 

In the skit, Eugene Levy wears a silk dressing-gown with a natty cravat and carefully-styled hair.  He is reclining on a bed facing the audience.  As his musical accompaniment plays, he attempts to produce some vocals, but the effort is almost too much. He is scarcely able to lift his head off the pillow.  Occasionally, however, he rallies and utters a few barely audible notes.....  You get the picture.....  The height of mellow.   

 

 

As my giggles subsided, I wondered what it was that actually seemed so funny.  Somewhere in the laughter, I realized there was an aversion: an aversion to inertia, to not doing, to giving up, to falling asleep.

In spiritual terms, “falling asleep” means forgetting the truth of who we are, that is, our oneness.  “Falling asleep” is believing the misperception that we are separate entities.  On this occasion, however, my aversion to falling asleep felt more like an aversion to not being separate, to loosing one's identity.  So which is it?  Do I want to be separate or one? Am I more afraid of waking up than falling asleep......?  At least I can try to be honest.  Maybe that's a beginning.

Annie

Holding Fear with Love

“The world will never be good unless you are willing to see its goodness. What you experience depends on how you look at things. When you look with judgment, life is twisted and empty. When you look with an open heart and mind, life is poignant and meaningful…

The only thing that can successfully address your fear is to hold it with love. As soon as you look with love, you see a different world.”

Paul Ferrini: Everyday Wisdom www.paulferrini.com

 

 

 

Arwen Barr

 

Our current practice at The Light Tree has brought us to some stunning conclusions. We had been labouring under the false impression that we were sincerely seeking a change in awareness in order to live from an authentic experience of ourselves.

Continued reading and meditation practice has revealed how longingly we cling to the false self with all its illusions. How we love the life we seem to have created and how reluctant we are to surrender our attachments! Like Gollum in Tolkein’s Lord of The Rings we guard our creations possessively. We don’t really want to experience the peace of our True Nature because we are too busy accumulating and guarding our precious treasures.

 

 

 

 

This kind of commitment to distraction leads us to suffering. Each time we think we are unhappy, uncomfortable, or in some kind of distress, we are ferociously hanging on to our own definition of reality. Instead, we can choose to surrender to something altogether more delicious. Instead we love to wallow. Self pity, blame and projection are our favourite tools for diversion.

We can only sit back and giggle when we sense the game is up. How crazy are we anyway??? Our Mighty Companions are helpful at this point as we sit and laugh together at how easily we can be fooled…

This kind of awareness can only come from ruthless honesty with our selves. We have to be willing to give up the game. Guilt tends to arise telling us that the lie is necessary for our well-being, but really this just keeps the blame-shame game going a bit longer. If we can sit patiently with the story as it spins its tale of woe, we can begin to sense there is something else there.

At this point only Spirit, our True Self, can point the way. If we don’t ask our Higher Self for direction we can end up spinning the tale out even further, lost in space, lost in mind, lost in ego-land. When we don’t know how to get out of our drama, it’s probably time to stop and surrender to our inner wisdom.

How we do this is up to us. Maybe a walking meditation, yoga session or another favourite grounding practice. Whatever it is, do it now, do it often and do it regularly. The results are worth it.