I only want to be here as long as God can use me here – I’m under contract. That doesn’t mean that anybody else should have that same conviction: it’s simply where I’m at in this particular life span. When I was younger I had many other interests, but very few of the “normal” amenities of family life. I have a huge message for anyone who is ready to go much, much deeper in their spirituality. Knowing that I’ve helped some who are yearning and struggling gives me more joy than you can imagine. But it’s not about telling people what their bodies’ minds are aching to hear – it’s about realizing there is an accessible place beyond where they’re presently at and where their bodies’ feelings are resisting with all their might.

In the dreamy la-la land known as our human life what proof does anyone have that they will not die and come back in another form and another and another? Isn’t this the real summary of human living? Doesn’t anyone feel bone- weary of this never ending dream?
There are compelling statistics that say that we humans learn our lesson about 5%. That’s 5% of us, 5% of the time who even approach a cessation of this mortal dream that is brought about by world mind hypnosis and is bought into by 99% of the population. People think they’re enlightened and they no longer buy into it but are they really? Try monitoring their thoughts moment by moment by moment. How much of the time do they spend really living in their immortal body?
That’s why I number myself among them and can only offer the fact that unlike most of them I realize that there is some real work to be done. It’s lovely to say everything is hunky-dory as long as hunky-dory is the rare, occasional high that you wish to experience for the next few 1000 years. Aren’t you finally getting fed up with it? What proof do you have that you have exited this dream? There’s way, way, way too much hunky-dory chatter and the making of individual little tiny problems of the little tiny human life the be-all and end-all of a person’s experience here! What in the world is wrong with trying to convince people that what their heart and soul are seeking is God? They can’t get where they need to be by simply following like a sheep. Everyone needs to do their own digging and searching and discovering and listening and meditating. It can’t be done by another person. Everyone has their own vehicle that will take them to where they really want to be if they’re fortunate enough to want to be where they are not at present.

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
~Thomas Merton
(Thanks, Chuck Crisco)

Thomas Merton was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis.
Born: January 31, 1915, Prades, France
Died: December 10, 1968, Thailand
Buried: Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, KY

I HAD A CHAT WITH PAUL
“How can I leave the world entirely and live only in my soul?” I queried.
“MAKE YOURSELF BLIND.” came his instantaneous response.
I’m not a stranger to such directives, having spent my early childhood looking away from the body and into divine Spirit. I didn’t even stumble over the preposterous ramifications of the body’s imminent objections!
“I want to do it, but how?” was my uncompromising plea.
“Stay in your soul. God lives as you there. And I will sup with you anytime…” (Paul must’ve picked that up from Joel.) “…for as long as you want.”
Immediately I wanted to test Paul. He replied “Your Damascus journey is nearly through. You must consciously rest in full Spirit awareness, knowing as you do that at that moment, your answer, your hope, is your fait acomplí.”
“But what about . . .?”
Paul was gone.

○●○●○●○●○

Below is my response to a query:

It’s hard to describe in human language but I’ll try. My yearning to never step outside Spirit awareness had been getting stronger and stronger; it couldn’t be satisfied with a flippant “just rest” admonition anymore. I thought about Paul and wondered what my unique method should be. Then it occurred to me that, in Spirit, Paul is ever-present. So I got up the courage to simply, wordlessly, ask.

○●○●○●○●○

I have to confess that the blindness that I “saw” was the world and all its baubles, the flesh and all its sorrows, mortal mind and its desperate attempts to get ahead. I saw through it as Jesus did and what beauty and glory there was in its stead!

○●○●○●○●○

There was nothing strange or surreal going on. I was basking in my soul (aware of God living as me) when a very familiar wish presented itself for the umpteenth time, namely, wanting to never go back to world mind. Then I just thought of Paul and simply posed my question. It’s extremely important to note that it wasn’t any kind of human will exercise at all.

○●○●○●○●○

FOLLOW-UP ON CHAT WITH PAUL
I believe there’s a top-down approach and a bottom-up non-approach to spiritual communion. I wasn’t focused on a human-like curiosity-driven aspiration but rather a longing, over a very long period of time, to stay grounded in Spirit alone. It wasn’t my human mind that “thought” of Paul but my soul – our Soul – that received Paul’s answer before the question was entirely formulated. I knew immediately that it had nothing to do with human blindness, self-imposed or otherwise. This realm knows of no such thing as time, so immortal Paul and immortal Joel and immortal You&me have always been.

“Why this creation has been created to give trouble to so many people? Because you were not aware. The rope looked like a snake but the snake was never present. Because of your ignorance, because of darkness, you called it a snake and fear arose. On close investigation, you find there was no snake. You are going to investigate in the consciousness, where does this universe abide? Looking closely, like the snake, it’s going to disappear. Never did anything arise. Investigate who am I? Who is in trouble? There is no suffering, it’s only imagination of the mind.”

If this will help, try imagining
striking up a bargain with God.
(Pure fiction, but it could help.)
What do you want from God?
Shake it loose from all selfishness.
Shake it loose from all worldliness.
Shake it loose from all fear.
Are you finally sure that what you want
is what God wants for you?
NOW HERE’S THE BARGAINING PART:
You’ve got to give up your way of
interpreting how things ought to be.
Have faith in all-new impending miracles
& LET EVERYTHING BECOME NEWLY DEFINED.
Give up your entire mortal dream
of what you thought was right & wrong.
You’re going into a whole new life –
New revelations, new thinking, new
illumination and a whole brand new
Level of connectedness with Spirit, God,
Life, Love, Freedom, Truth, Immortality,
Omnipresence, Omnipotence.
Everything changes now – especially as
you discover that
YOUR CONNECTEDNESS IS YOUR ACTUALLY BEING ALL THOSE SYNONYMS OF GOD:
THEY’RE YOU NOW
But now you are claiming them, activating them, living them.

If separation were real, we would have to get rid of it. However, separation is an illusion. Attempting to get rid of an illusion only asserts its apparent reality, thereby strengthening it.
~ Rupert Spira

T-H-E ACID TEST
No human experience,
White-knuckle deprivation,
Ever modifies consciousness.
But rising in awareness ushers in
Freedom beyond our wildest dreams.

What you are is not something that you perceive, you are the perceiving presence referred to as God consciousness.

Some wonder if there is a destination in the spiritual quest. The answer is yes there is. But this destination is what you truly are. It is available to you outside of the mind, outside of time and space.

You need to realize the destination that is already realized. You need to die into the Self that you are.

You may wonder ‘how could this be?’
You have relied on the mind for too long. It is time you dive into the heart.

Inquire into the truth without relying on the mind that is already conditioned. Do not rely on the past. Old beliefs are hurdles along the path.

You have all it takes to awaken to the Self.

You are what you seek. You have never been a mortal form. Forms appear to the infinite invisible, to the formless I AM.

Realize the Self and be done with the unhappy illusion of separation.

The eye of the needle is yours to traverse.
~Magdi Badawy