Introduction
When the choice is made to answer the call of the Soul to awaken to Its true identity, we find that the way is straight and narrow. We find it is necessary to be consciously aware of the Living Truth within, that simply awaits our recognition and acceptance of It. In the stillness of thought, remaining open and receptive, this missing link to liberation is found, and our true nature is realized as infinite, eternal, free Being that is already complete and perfect, wanting for nothing.
The mystical approach to awakening is not based on mere esoteric dogma that needs to be understood, but on principles that are to be lived. With practice, these principles then become a living, breathing testament for those who would be authentically in this world, but not of it. The words of truth found in ancient texts or heard on the recordings of modern mystics can direct our attention to where it needs to be, but the Living Truth within, our real teacher, is beyond words, thoughts and concepts, and outside of time and space. Living Truth cannot be limited to names or labels or confined to any religious tradition or practice. It is ever accessible to anyone who is still enough to let It be revealed through the silence of the Soul.
As we rise out of material consciousness, we realize there is no place where Spirit is not. The human mind with its five senses, bears false witness to this Truth – but we don’t have to believe the lie. We don’t have to suffer or struggle or worry. Our true nature is immune to disease and disaster, lack and limitation. When we stop looking to the outer world for fulfillment, we discover that what we think we need, we already have, and what we want to become, we already are – right where we stand. Behind the illusion of mortality, is illumined spiritual consciousness, revealing human understanding to be only a shadow of the Infinite and Eternal Self within each and all.
Through the discovery and expression of the divine Light and Love that we are, Life becomes one of boundless, limitless Joy and Peace. Heaven is here right now – not in some future time and place, When we come to the awareness of our Being, when we get out of the way, magic happens, miracles manifest, and we behold the Essence behind this appearing world. Consciousness is always unfolding to reveal its hidden, sweet splendor, and Its voice is our voice, and the Truth and every answer.
The Living Truth Message
In his lecture, The Transcendentalist given in 1842, Ralph Waldo Emerson said this about Truth: “The first thing we have to say respecting what are called ‘new views’ here, in New England, at the present time, is, that they are not new, but the very oldest of thoughts cast into the mould of these new times”.
From the beginning of time, there have been channels for the Light made visible to the world, and in some cases, recorded. The earliest ancient texts written hundreds of years before Christ Jesus or the Buddha, and spoken of for thousands of years before that, pointed to the truth that the Light has always existed, and that in fact, the Light is all there is. The teaching of Jesus before it became Christianity, what Buddha taught before it became Buddhism, is all this same Light. It is the Light of Truth that was hidden in the Gnostic gospels, lived by the Essenes, spoken of by Greek philosophers and Indian yogis, and then by western mystics, from the New England Transcendentalists to the modern mystics of the 20th century. They all unveiled the secrets of experiencing this Light first hand – not by ritual or religious doctrine, but through direct revelation born in the Silence, in the absence of words, thoughts and concepts. When one looks within the Self, one finds the Truth of Being is all there, waiting to be uncovered, waiting to be remembered.
The Light being universal, shines in, through and as, all Life. The Living Truth inherent in All, is this Light. It is beyond labels and isms, and does not belong to any one religion, society, or sect. It is immutable, infinite, eternal , and realized only as we are consciously aware of It. When we are identified with the illusory “ego” by believing what comes through the five-sense human mind, we experience a fragmented, imitation life, and see a corporeal world, but Truth is incorporeal and cannot be known with the mind. It resides in the immediate, unknown Experience of the Eternal Now, and not in the creation of yesterday or the idea of tomorrow. The Living Truth is neither finite nor something that is becoming. It is already infinitely present, infinitely wise and infinitely powerful. True transformation comes about only by identification with and experience of the Light of Truth through individual consciousness.
The Living Truth is first and foremost, Revelation here and now – our Revelation, our rebirth, our transcendence from identifying with the world of material concepts to the spiritual awareness of Pure Love. Everything else is there to help lift us into a higher dimension so that we may see through the illusion to Truth, to the Reality of Being, and to help cut away the barriers that obscure our spiritual vision. “I come not to bring peace, but a sword.” To see that Peace is already our Isness – our state of Being, means to be Present, in the wonder and the magic and the mystery of Now.
So if we are relying on reading or listening to the words of teachers or the masters only, we will not realize our True Identity, because the Light, Christ or Illumined Awareness, as It’s been called, can only work through our consciousness. Any Truth that has been revealed is not the end of Truth, but a beginning – It is actually a springboard for each individual that becomes aware of It, to dive deeper into their own infinite ocean of Truth. Spirit never repeats Itself, and Consciousness is always unfolding and deepening, therefore our Revelations can and do transcend what has gone before. Each of us is the unique and necessary Divine Idea of the Infinite expressing Itself as One Being.
Truth is only experienced as real and permanent if it is alive as our conscious awareness right now. The Living Truth that is inside you and inside me, transcends and goes beyond what has been written, or anything that is known – because it is outside of time and space in the immediacy and spontaneity of Now. This is the realm of continuous un-knowing, where what Is, has never existed before.
Awakening, as it has been called, or this shift in perception, happens by Grace, when there has been sufficient preparation within an individual, whether they appear to be on a so-called “spiritual” path or not. The outer appearance is completely irrelevant, as the Light will find its way through wherever Consciousness is open and receptive.
A Zen master once said, “Enlightenment is an accident, but practice makes us accident-prone”. If we want to experience the Peace, Love, Joy, Freedom and Fulfillment that is our True Nature, we must strive to abide with the principles of Truth every day, until they are part of our Consciousness. What does it mean to live in Truth? It means to be consciously aware that Spirit, Infinite Presence is all there is – it means to know this daily, hourly, until it becomes automatic as our constant living awareness. Then no effort is needed, as the Infinite Invisible takes over and lives its Self-sustaining, Self-maintaining and Self-fulfilling Life, as us.
A Word about Words
When studying spiritual Truth, we should be careful not to get attached to the words we are reading or listening to. Words are just words – but, they are tools that if allowed, can direct us to Truth. We will only make it harder for ourselves to realize Truth, and block revelation from happening, if we get hung up on words.
We must not take the words themselves as seriously as their ability to move us into a higher awareness. It’s not words that are important, but the Consciousness that sends them.
Christianity, Buddhism, Non-Dualism, Eastern, Western, are all just words – Truth has no terminology. Words can serve a purpose, but then should fall away. They can point the direction, but then must be let go, because they’re in the way after that, as in and of themselves, they are not the Truth. Let us use them as signposts then, to point to the Essence behind the symbols.
Many present day teachings avoid using certain religious terminology to describe the indescribable. The reasoning is that some people will be immediately turned off, or turn away, because the words are associated with the limiting and false concepts of religious dogma that have little to do with what the words are supposed to represent.
All of the “teachers” in our library are mystics who have had their own revelations and illuminations – who have realized their true nature. Because however, many of them came from a Christian Science or other religious background, (as did many of those to whom they were speaking), biblical terminology is used, sometimes frequently. What must be understood, is that words such as God, Christ, Father, Son, Kingdom etc., represent universal concepts that are actually completely independent of any religious theology.
As you listen to the talks that we offer in the library, you will become more familiar with how these words are really being used, and find that in most cases, the one speaking will translate the biblical terminology into the actual universal meaning.
Beyond Belief, into Knowing…
Rather than avoid the words used in the bible altogether, we have chosen to give a deeper understanding of the terminology and how it is meant to be discerned in a universal, non-biblical way. It is important that we not judge these words and associate them with how they are used in orthodox religion – that we see beyond the visible symbolic form, to the invisible Essence of what that form represents.
Below is a short glossary to illustrate what we are talking about:
God – (Infinite Reality, the Absolute, Source, Infinite Consciousness)
Soul – (the unique expression of God)
Kingdom – (the Consciousness of God)
Heaven – (Peace, Love, Joy, Harmony and Fulfillment)
Sin – (duality, seeing duality and imperfection)
Prayer – (listening, communing)
Christ – (the expression of God as illumined awareness, divine consciousness – Light)
Father – (Source, God, Consciousness, Divine Idea)
Son/Child – (Divine Expression)
Holy – (whole – complete and perfect)
Flesh – (matter, materiality)
Devil – (duality, or the dualistic nature of material consciousness)
As an example, most people believe that when Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world” he was referring to another place – a kingdom of heaven that was somewhere else, maybe up in the atmosphere somewhere, or maybe in the “spirit world”. The revealed Truth though, is that heaven is a state of Mind, a state of Consciousness that is within each of us, and experienced, as the belief in separation is surrendered.
Many translations of the bible alter the original text, which is one of the reasons why it has been misunderstood and misinterpreted by some religious groups and the independent scholar alike. What has been missed as well though, is that most of what is written in the bible is symbolic, and was never meant to be taken literally. The Truth is veiled and symbolic because it is not something for the mind to understand, but for the Soul, the I Am of our nature, to recognize. Why was Truth veiled in symbolism by the prophets? They knew it would be misinterpreted by the consciousness of a people that weren’t ready for it. But Truth is timeless, and thus has endured. It is astounding, actually, the amount and level of Absolute Truth and practical, everyday meaning that is present in this text – in the New and the Old Testaments. When discerned spiritually, you find in many of the passages written by enlightened prophets, the highest Truth, that is the inspired word of God.
And so here, we are bridging the gap between the real Christ (illumined consciousness) teaching that sometimes uses biblical terms, and our own realization of Truth within, allowing anyone studying in this way, to feel the Truth spiritually, not just understand it intellectually.
And finally, it must be stated here that the bible, or any other scriptural or inspired text, is only there to remind us of what we already know. This is a path of remembering…
Our real work and the real teaching, is done within, in the absence of words.
Mysticism Clarified
The words mysticism, mystical, mystic… are often misunderstood and mischaracterized. They seem to have obtained a very broad scope of meaning, conjuring up aspects of the occult or some never–knowable “mystery” that will forever remain veiled.
Life is meant to be a mystery. When we live in and from the spirit of Truth, we are in the Now, and in the realm of the unknown and the un-knowable. This is what mysticism (the mystical way) is all about, and inherent in its principles, is the paradox that the Truth it reveals cannot be known by the mind.
Our true nature is too simple and infinite to be grasped intellectually. The mind cannot know Ultimate Reality, but in a state of un-knowing, can be a transparency, an avenue of awareness for the realization of It to come through and be Known.
In the dictionary, mysticism is defined as “the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight”, and a mystic as “a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to attain unity with the Deity or the absolute and so reach truths beyond human understanding.”
Every major world religion has a mystical branch. Islam’s mystical branch is Sufism. Buddhism’s most mystical branch is Zen, in Judaism it is called Kabbalah, Hinduism and Gnosticism are by their nature, essentially mystical, and in Christianity it is simply called Christian Mysticism. Some of the more well-known mystics are: Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Lao-tzu, Krishna, Shankara, St. Francis of Assisi, Meister Eckhart, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rumi, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Joel S. Goldsmith, Mary Baker Eddy, Evelyn Underhill, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amos Bronson Alcott, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Edgar Cayce, William Shakespeare, William Blake, and many, many others whom we would never suspect as being mystics. Nevertheless, they live quiet, ordinary lives right in our own neighborhoods.
Mystics do not have sole rights to spiritual Truth, as it may sometimes seem. They simply have discovered where it is to be found, and that is where they put their attention. The mystery schools of ancient times, guarded and kept secret, the truths that were revealed because there were so few that would have been able to accept them. Since those darker times, Consciousness has expanded – revealing more of the Light, and what was once perceived as finite and material, is being seen more and more in its true infinite and incorporeal nature. Practicing mystical principles allows us to rise out of the consciousness of duality and into the consciousness of Oneness, and therefore have access to the wisdom inherent within. When we still the mind and stop believing that the hamster wheel of thoughts that go around in our head is any kind of intelligence at all, we will be able to Know Truth and be guided in any matter.
The mystical perspective sees that the nature of Reality is infinite and eternal Oneness, and that it is the false “human” mind through its five senses that misperceives Reality and sees duality, division and solidity. The human experience is a dream – as it is transitory and temporary. It is an illusion that only has the power and validity we give it. Identified as human beings, we are, as it has been said, creatures of habit mesmerized into believing that any problem arising in our lives must be fixed, any lack must be filled, and any limitation accepted as permanent. Revealed Truth says this is a spiritual universe however – Perfect and Complete, and that includes you, and that includes me. It is essentially who and what we are. When we reject the separate sense of a selfhood apart from Spirit, God, Source, whatever you want to call it, it is then that we begin to experience our life as it was meant to be experienced – free of discord and disharmony.
As we awaken, and become more aware, many of us will have mystical experiences that will defy description. But being aware that we are our Source, isn’t about being out of the body or on some blissful high, perched knowingly on the top branches of the Tree of Life. It’s about realizing that we and every bird in that tree are made of the same substance as the tree, the forest, the earth, the sky – the entire Universe, and that Substance is Divine Consciousness – our Consciousness, in which there is nothing outside of.
It’s about recognizing a boundless and limitless Oneness that transcends the world of appearances, out to the furthest star, including how we sense ourselves as Spirit and even including Oneness. For if we are perceiving it with the mind, it is a mental image and therefore part of the illusion. Awareness, simply, is being aware that we are aware.
The mystical approach to awakening to our true nature is not an easy one. In fact, it is one of the most difficult, because it involves surrendering what we have thought was our identity. It asks us to “die daily” to our sense of humanhood. It requires that we let go of the beliefs, concepts and cherished assumptions of who we are, that we have held onto for so long. But, when in the silence of thought we experience a taste of the divine Light, the divine Peace, Love and Joy that we are, we find that our real existence is anything but hard, and that we have nothing to do but rest as what we are.
Be still and know, that you are infinite, divine Presence right now and you always have been, regardless of what you have apparently done in the past or what your life appears to look like currently.
Be still and listen; you are Light and Love, and anything that presents itself to the contrary, is a lie. The more you accept your true nature, the more it will manifest in your Life, and then just watch as the miracles start to unfold. Every Soul is on a journey of awakening to its true identity– a journey that only leads back to the One Self.