Remember

The Implications of Unconditional Love

Where the Seeds, Unknown, were Planted.

Where the Seeds, Unknown, were Planted.

CIMARRON NATIONAL GRASSLAND, KS — #Radiance #Remember

April 15, 2015 4:29 PM

Ahead, a large farm tractor, chugging along at 30 mph, created a four car backup on a long and lonely road in these desolate Bardo lands. “Why doesn’t he pull over?” my mind asked in frustration.

I LOVE X, but crappy stuff.

I LOVE my freedom, but that damn tractor won’t pull over.

I LOVE… (Love felt flowing toward the image of) freedom.

And suddenly I was no longer frustrated. Suddenly the mind was quiet. Suddenly I loved everything that my eyes saw. My eyes touched and caressed everything they fell upon.

Suddenly, I was no longer in the mind, but in the MOMENT.

Based on some of the comments yesterday, I’d say there were more than a few readers who understood why I awoke with tears of gratitude before writing that post. They see the significance of it, the implications of recognizing the felt nature of our core being: I LOVE (flowing outward).

The implications are simply this:

If you are NOT feeling I LOVE (pure Love flowing outward), then you are caught up in the mind.

When you pull away all the crappy stuff (the tractor), when you pull away even the object of your love (freedom), then you become the flowing, dynamic motion of Love Itself.

This could be a game changer (for my message).

Why? Because when you are NOT in the mind, then you are in the MOMENT.

And when you are in the MOMENT, then you are AWAKE.

 

How To Overcome Any Negative Emotion

The Loneliness of the Bardo

The Loneliness of the Bardo

OUTSIDE DODGE CITY, KS — #MiracleLog #MyLove #Radiance #Remember #Technique

April 14, 2015 7:48 AM

I had tried every technique that I had offered to others: See the loneliness as “other,” as not-you; See the loneliness like a cloud that coats you; See the loneliness as something negative and how sucky it makes you feel and drop it because you don’t need it anymore.

And yet, I went to bed still feeling lonely.

How can I help others—authentically help them—if I can’t help myself?

I fell asleep, and in my sleep She came to me and lay with me and she whispered sweet Truths through the long, dark night and when I awoke, I washed the tears of gratitude from my face and I wrote…

I LOVE.

… Read more…

The Power of Regret

Shooting The Breeze

Shooting The Breeze

WHITE RANCH CONSERVATION AREA, MO — #VanDwelling #Writing #Death #Intimate #Remember

April 5, 2015 2:41 PM

It was a pretty camp—lush grass, a clear river, trees fully in bloom—but it looked like rain and it looked like this area floods and it was Missouri after all, so I moved on. Cavalier about my life or not, I wasn’t born with a stupid brain and I knew it wouldn’t allow me to sleep through the night. … Read more…

On Apathy And Inner Peace

The Cafe Counter

The Cafe Counter

MELBOURNE, FL — #Remember #Technique #Soul #Radiance

March 7, 2015 9:27 AM

At the cafe counter of the local Barnes and Noble, five strangers converged at the empty order register at the exact same instant. The barista, with her back to us while she rinsed off some dishes, jumped in shock when she saw the crowd which had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Without a word, we all smiled.

…

I’m conflicted.

On the one hand, what I’ve been contemplating lately could lead directly to inner peace.

On the other hand, it could lead to apathy.

Screw it, I’ll practice it for a bit and see what I find. All my readers are big boys and girls, they’re old enough to deal with the implications on their own:

If you truly live as a Soul, then this life is no more real than a dream.

Why? From my previous post, To Thrive:

Reincarnation implies that our current (seemingly all-important) life will soon feel like a dream.

All the evidence suggests that we are disincarnate, intelligent (but confused) entities currently driving around temporary bodies in a temporary physical world and that we will take on new bodies/worlds again and again and again. This experience is almost exactly like a dream: We participate in a dream. We consider it real. We wake up and realize the “real” reality. Then we fall back asleep and do it all over again.

Oddly enough, the inner peace that this perspective generates is the main attraction—the main benefit—of enlightenment. Indeed this Soul-perspective coincides with what the Buddha hinted at when he said, “Life is like a dream.”

Inner peace via a higher vantage point.

I’m going to practice this for a few days. To strive to keep this perspective—that all this is but a dream that I will soon wake up from—and see how it affects me.

My conflict? Without Love—without Radiance—this insight could very easily lead to apathy. I’ve already started to notice this apathy—this “it’s just a dream inner-peace defense”— when the emotions well up when hearing about ISIS atrocities, broadcast “news” exaggerations fill the airwaves, and my “distancing reactions” to differences of opinions.

Still, when you combine this insight with Love—that what I am experiencing right now is a shared dream by all of us-as-Souls—man, then it is so beautiful it’s heartbreaking.

Right now, I’m not sure how to resolve the conflict—the conflict of apathy and inner peace. Maybe with practice…

Wisdom From Above

Nurturing My Inner Beach Mobile

Nurturing My Inner Beach Mobile

MELBOURNE, FL — #MiracleLog #VanDwelling #Remember

March 3, 2015 12:48 PM

I was thinking I needed a game plan. Not one designed to help me survive, but one to help me live—to really enjoy life.

In my head, I heard the Dalai Lama say, “Everyone wants to be happy,” and just then I heard a woman’s voice, “I agree. You just have to take yourself out of the equation.”

I opened my eyes and looked up. An elderly couple were walking past my prone body as I lay on the beach getting some sun. The woman had simply replied to her husband, yet her words fit perfectly with my train of thoughts:

To be happy, you just have to take your self out of the equation.

The self consists entirely of self-centered thoughts, of me-me-me thoughts.

To be happy, we just need to remove the me-me-me thoughts.

Satisfied with this exposure (to both the sun and Her Light), I shook the sand out of my new, Mexican blanket, showered the sand off my old, American body, and flip-flopped my way over to the van.

I dried off and changed, then hung my bath towel on the curtain rod I use in the front to ensure privacy, hung my wet shorts over the sink to catch the drips, and hung my blanket across the back curtain rod (which I had installed just for that purpose).

The perfect camper, the perfect beach mobile, the perfect weather, the perfect insight…

The perfect company.

It was a fine morning.

To Thrive

Manatee Dreamin'

Manatee Dreamin’

MELBOURNE, FL — #VanDwelling #Remember #Soul

February 26, 2015 7:54 AM

The days have been running together, a sad testament to modern life’s routine. Reading and writing and running errands—rotating through the same locations in the same town. Maybe I’m picking up the winter blues that affect so much of the northern hemisphere this time of year. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve inadvertently experienced the pain of the larger population.

I’m look forward to hitting the road—even bought Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways for added inspiration. With Mom’s last cataract surgery scheduled for later today, I should be back on the road soon enough.

I’ve toyed with where to go when I head out. I’ve kicked around a couple ideas, but after reading Bob Well’s latest post, on his reasons for flying to Florida to visit his mother rather than driving, I’ve decided to take the opposite approach. Bob (seemingly unconsciously) is looking at his Florida visit as a round trip, referring to “returning home” a number of times.

The difference is that I don’t consider anywhere home (or just as accurately, I consider everywhere home), so my travels tend to be one way trips. From here, I think I’ll take this I-find-myself-in-Florida opportunity as a starting point to drift northeast as the temperatures warm with the spring thaw.

Other than a couple places I’d like to revisit (D.C., Lancaster county), I’ve no intention on mapping a route or setting a timetable.

I live in a van, I’ve no obligations, I’m completely free and I expect to die soon (as all of us will). In the time we’ve got left, we can survive or we can thrive.

I choose the latter.

8:42 AM

Before I forget, I want to #Remember something that a video reminded me of (a video referenced by Rob in the comments):

Reincarnation implies that our current (seemingly all-important) life will soon feel like a dream.

Just as we forgot our previous lives (even children who recall their former life forget it as they grow older), we’ll forget this life when we take on our next one.

Remembering that we’ll soon forget this “all-important” life, that it will soon feel no more real than a dream, takes all the pressure off it—takes all the seriousness out of it.

This life is no more important that a dream—a lucid dream. You can make it a dream of rote and routine, or one of growth and adventure.

We can survive or we can thrive. I choose the latter.

As Often As I Remember

The Interconnected Nature of Being

The Interconnected Nature of Being

MELBOURNE, FL — #MiracleLog #Remember #Technique

February 17, 2015 1:11 PM

Some validation of the “expect good things to happen” item from my List of Truths and Practices:

At the moment, Mom’s only comfortable driving short distances, so this morning I drove Dad to get some blood work done at the hospital. The parking guy pointed me to a spot right next to the entrance and even though it was the morning after a long weekend and appointments aren’t taken for lab work, there was zero waiting and Dad and I were in and out of there in less than ten minutes.

Here is my revised list and how I remember it:

  • C: COMMUNE with God.
  • S: SURRENDER your will.
  • I: The INSIGNIFICANCE of thoughts.
  • E: EXPECT good things to happen.
  • D: You’ll be DEAD soon.

To remember the list, I pronounce it “CSI, IED” (there’s only one “I” (Insignificance), but it’s easier to remember with two).

COMMUNE : I visualize TaoGodHer as a column of Light shining down through my head, filling and dissolving my body and radiating outward. We become one.

SURRENDER : I surrender my personal will to whatever is going on at the moment.

INSIGNIFICANCE : I (try) to remember how insignificant my thoughts are.

EXPECT : In any situation that I am participating in, I expect it to work out well (see this morning’s example above).

DEAD : I try to remember that I’ll be dead soon which acts as a compass for my actions (Is whatever I am doing right now what I want to or should be doing?).

I do these practices as often as I remember—at least as long as I don’t have something more pressing to focus my mind on.

A List of Truths and Practices

"Please Don't Eat Our Trash Can"

“Please Don’t Eat Our Trash Can”

MELBOURNE, FL — #Surrender #Technique #Remember #FourthWall

February 15, 2015 2:14 PM

This morning, I did a little research for the book, trying to find some quotes from Mystics about evidence of the Divine. After about an hour, I had only found a couple. Maybe I’m using the wrong search terms.

Later, in the van, I made a sandwich and a list. The idea is a single, short document—a list of truths and practices—that I can review every day to remind my mind of some key things I want to #Remember:

  • Commune with God. Idea from St. Teresa of Avila. I’ve been very passive about my communion with Her, maybe it’s time to be a little more proactive.
  • Surrender your will to this moment/Her. Amazing how difficult this is to remember.
  • Expect good things to happen. This is one of the implications of God (the less there is of me, the more there is of Her, …). Hat tip Dave.
  • The insignificance of thoughts. Seriously, everyone I saw today will have at least a thousand of them. How many will they act on? How many will come true?

To the readers: I suggest you make your own List of Truths and Practices based on your personal spiritual issues. Try to limit it to the top five stumbling blocks which consistently trip you up. Edit it as necessary to keep it fresh and applicable to your current stage of development.

The Insufferable Mind

Taming Wild Things

Taming Wild Things

MELBOURNE, FL — #NoSelf #FourthWall #Remember

February 14, 2015 8:37 AM

Three questions/answers from yesterday morning are swirling in my head as I write this:

  1. Is it possible for I/Consciousness to CONTROL the mind?
  2. What are the implications of Consciousness not controlling the mind?
  3. How can the Self let go of the Self?

I pretty much know the answer to #1: Nothing seems to control the mind CONSISTENTLY. Mind can be controlled for short periods of time (by meditation, visualizations, media manipulation, drama, …) but not consistently by one’s “self.”

And that brings up #2: Whatever the person’s sense of self is (mind, ego, Soul, Love, Emptiness, No-Self) it (the self) doesn’t consistently control thoughts.

What are the implications of this?

(thinking…)

[Note to readers: Ironically (since I’m writing/thinking it) this is getting too dense for me. If you agree, scroll down to just above the quote below.]

…

The mind can’t be controlled, but it can be convinced. Facts and evidence and repeated experiences (ie: gravity), convince the mind to believe—and what the mind believes influences its content (thoughts).

Sort of…

What the mind believes influences its values (which may or may not influence the mind’s thoughts).

For example, this morning, as a simple test, I tried to visualize the Light column in the dark room (“I found myself in a large, dark, circular room, illuminated by a single column of light in its center.”). Within seconds, my mind drifted to random images: a vague rodent-like shadow, a wire running through the dark room, a beach, … and suddenly the room and the Light column were gone.

I tried again, and again, and again… with similar results.

These images had nothing to do with beliefs, just random crap the mind dumps out. Random crap that—try as I might—I had no conscious control of.

But…

My values (what I feel is important) are directly influenced by my beliefs. For example: I know (which means “deeply believe“) that Consciousness does not blink out at death (Soul) and thus I hold less value for my physical life and all its inherent drama than most people do. My beliefs influence my values but not so much the contents of my mind (my thoughts).

My beliefs are built and strengthened through facts, evidence, and repeated experiences.

…

Yuck. This stuff is way too rational, way too dry for me. Let’s just cut to the chase:

I would like to deeply believe (via facts, evidence and repeated experience) the following:

I have no control of my mind. It is full of crap. I need not be concerned with it anymore.

And deeply believing this is probably the solution to #3 (dropping the subtle Self contraction).