lunagirl image
Vignettes
on Love
(Transcript from audio tape of
a talk given by William Samuel)
…Awareness,
Life, Consciousness really mean the same thing. When one says “I
am alive” he means “I am aware”. If one says “I am
consciousness” he really means I am Awareness. When one says “I
am alive”… or “living” he means that he’s being aware or
conscious, so the terms mean the same. So, as I speak of Awareness,
I speak of life. And, as I speak of Awareness, I have reference to
that intangible essence which listens to these words. I have
reference to that ineffable Isness wherein the images of Awareness
are discerned. I have reference to the very identity you are. Have
we ever been conscious of anything that was not included within this
awareness that is right here? Have we ever said ’you’ to another
without really addressing some object of perception that appeared
within and as this Awareness that is aware right now? Think just a
moment, have we seen a sight, have we ever heard a sound that did not
come to us as this present consciousness? What is the smell of a
rose, of the taste of a berry, of the feel of a rock if it isn’t
Awareness? It’s Awareness functioning, isn’t it? It’s
Awareness being Itself. Aren’t all of the arts and sciences, the
figures and events of history with all of their stories, aren’t
every sprig of grass, every star in the heavens, everyone included in
and as this Awareness right here right now being identity? Yes, of
course, you know this is so.
This is a simple, even though
very seldom perceived, fact of existence and it’s for this reason
that we’ve heard the statement that we live alone. We live alone
as an all-inclusive Awareness, an all-inclusive Awareness of
existence, of being. You see, the friends, relatives, trees,
mountains and the throngs of humanity who keep us company and all
that we see gathered here together this morning are actually aspects
of this Awareness we are. They are images… images, objects of
perception, ideas within this Consciousness I am, within this
Awareness right here, right now. And friends, we are concerned with
this single Awareness alone and only. This is the only One. Blessed
are the solitary for they shall find the kingdom of heaven. We are
concerned with this single, alone and only solitary Awareness being
identity right here, right now, and not another one.
On the grass here in the
sunshine I close my eyes and I gently be myself. Do it with me now.
I close my eyes and I just gently be myself . Now, thoughts come;
thoughts come, they say “I live as awareness.” They say “I am
Awareness,” they say “Awareness is my very being and my function.
Functioning Awareness am I. I see and feel and hear… seeing,
hearing feeling am I…thinking am I… thoughts am I… right here,
right now… Natural, unhurried, unworried, majestic, effortless
being. Isn’t that what’s going on?
Here
in this lovely garden, the fragrance of flowers impinges itself on
me, as me, as Awareness and I am those fragrances. The sounds of a
distant hammer blows, the drone of a bee, present themselves as this
Awareness, as me, and I am those sounds. Now, with the sounds, as
they come, come thoughts and with thoughts feelings and with
feelings, images, memories...Memories, yes, fragrances of yesteryear.
Oh, I know again, I know again, as I sit here, that yesterday has
gone nowhere. Nothing has been destroyed by time. Covered over,
maybe, but not destroyed. All that stands between Awareness and the
freshness of childhood is the habit of concern, a blanket of
struggle, the pride of acquisition and human accomplishment, the
deadening practice of being a custodian of life, a caretaker of life,
the guardian of life. Never, never have I been that dead one, not
really, not in truth, only in a half dream. I breathe deeply and the
heart sings like the Child I am, like the Child I am.
All
right now…refreshed…refreshed we can start again to try to tell
it again, to tell it like it is, but I tell you, there are no words
that are gentle enough. Oh, there are just no words that are soft
enough but maybe there will be some sort of mysterious combination of
them...maybe something…a magic combination that will be able to
illicit the feeling that will be gentle enough to tell it like it is.
Love is that feeling. All feeling is love. It is always Love that
does the work or appears to be the work that’s done. Love is here,
right now, as identity, right now.
Once upon a time there lived a
workingman who detested coffee. He just didn’t like coffee at all
and his wife didn’t know this because he had never told her. And
it happened that she loved coffee very much and she took great
delight in packing his lunch every day and filling up his thermos
with hot coffee for him to take to work. Well, he always carried the
box and the thermos to work but, being a very frugal man, he brought
it home again with him in the evening with the thermos of coffee
still untouched, you know. And then, in order to save a penny and
because his wife loved coffee just about as much as he detested it,
he would pour the coffee back into the family coffeepot when she
wasn’t looking. Then, at night he was excused the evening coffee
at dinner on the grounds that it kept him from sleeping. Well, one
night, the wife dreamed that her husband was unfaithful to her. Of
course she didn’t like it. The next night she had the same dream
and she really didn’t like it but she said nothing. Well, a week
or so later, the dream happened a third time and this time it caused
much jealousy and much anguish and she finally decided that it was
true. She said, “ well, it’s true, it must be true, the worm,
that miserable worm is being unfaithful to me, otherwise I wouldn’t
be having these dreams”. And so she set out to avenge herself and
she did this by putting a pinch of arsenic in his coffee every
morning until she killed herself and at the husband’s trial…of
course, there had to be a trial, you see, but he was acquitted… he
was found to be innocent and the judge said “It is always the same,
always the same, those who believe the dream murder themselves.
Those who believe the dream murder themselves.”
What
is the dream, what is the dream? We’ve heard so much about the
dream, the belief in dream of material existence. It is the
simplicity of it that hides itself from us. If I could get this
point past the intellect, the heart would grab it in a minute. The
dream of material living is the belief that we are an ego, a big fat
piece of cheese who is the owner of Awareness, that this very
Awareness right here right now, that listens to these words, that
sees these sites, that feels these feelings, belongs to an ego,
belongs to one called Bill or Ruby or John or Jack. And then we act
as though we are the guardians of it, the protectors of it. But
pretty soon it isn’t the Awareness that is so important, it is the
ego that’s doing the protecting that’s so all-far and important;
and pretty soon we are defending that ego, we’re fighting to please
that ego, that custodian, that pseudo-possessor of life and yet all
the while, Life, Awareness, just goes on about its business of being
aware. Right here, right now, isn’t Awareness just being aware?
Isn’t it, right now, just about the business of hearing these
sounds, seeing these sites? Just who is this big ego that says “this
Awareness is mine?” That one is the fraud, that one is the
fiction; that one is the one that we have done with. That one is the
liar from the beginning. That one is without power, without
authority. It’s never been anything but a belief and a belief is a
belief. It’s a belief. It has no power; it has no authority. A
belief is just a belief, but it doesn’t do anything to Awareness.
Life goes right on living. Right now, right now, see this point,
take this into the heart, right now...see and understand that
Awareness Itself is identity. Life Itself is who and what I am. I
see that some of you are seeing this right now.
We
live this single identity, refusing to be the custodian, the
possessor, the old man, the liar on the scene judging his miserable
mess. How do we live the single identity, how do we live it? By
being conscious of the fact that this consciousness is God’s
Self-Awareness about the business of being this Awareness I am. We
awaken to the fact that we are not another and never have been and
then we stop acting as another. We awaken to the fact that we are
not the custodian, the
possessor,
the container of Awareness but that we are Awareness Itself, Life
Itself, God’s living Itself and then we stop acting as the
possessor, as the custodian. We begin to live as the single one, as
the solitary, as the Only. We live One Awareness is All. Then we
stand fast on this ground. We refuse to have two awarenesses on the
scene. And then, bit-by-bit, precept upon precept and really with no
conscious effort, we begin to find meanings, meanings behind the
events that are transpiring all around us. Then, knowing the
meanings, the reasons for the appearing may also be known and, of
course, what to do about them. What to do about them then would have
to be known. And we find ourselves living harmoniously in ways that
we never dreamed of before. God really is Love, you know, but the
Love is not out there separate and apart from me. It is here as this
identity, as this Awareness I am. Love is not an action that I am to
engage in first. Love is the identity I find myself to be. Then…
then you see. Every action you see is automatically Love’s action
and it is impossible to be unwise, unloved or unwanted.
The grand wonder is that
Awareness is already aware. Awareness is already aware right here,
right now. We didn’t have to do anything to make it what it is.
We are it already. Awareness is the action of Mind. What is Mind if
it isn’t to be aware, if it isn’t to know? And what is knowing
but Awareness? Here we are, all the time we have been the living,
the consciousness of Mind, the divine Mind. So, you see, the
identity we are is already established. It is already pure and
perfect, despite the belief that we hung like a veil over it, the
belief that we were a recipient of Awareness. Why, we never will be
the recipient. We’ve been it all the time and we are it right now,
without wait, without struggle, without fighting, without clawing and
scratching at the leg of God, trying to get to identity. Right here,
right now, we can let go the belief of human possessorship, of the
human receivership, to be the one we’ve always been and will always
be.
What
is Awareness if it isn’t the knowing mind? Awareness is knowing
going on. Mind about the business of being mind is knowing or being
aware, so therefore this Awareness right here, right now, this
identity we are is wisdom, it’s Mind’s knowing. The identity I
am is Infinite wisdom itself, right here, right now. You see, we
don’t have to learn the truth. This is a notion to be discarded,
absolutely, to be discarded. We’re not here now about the business
of learning the truth. Whether we like it or not we are learning
that we already are the Truth, that we already are Wisdom being wise.
You know, there’s a hell of a difference. Why, just the knowledge
of this fact speeds self-discovery. Just the knowledge of it. How,
how does it speed self-discovery? It has us properly identified.
You see, since I am wisdom, I am not one who is searching for wisdom.
As wisdom, I am seeking and becoming aware of the many vistas of my
self-identification. Now, as one attempting to try to get wise, as
one attempting to try to learn the truth as though it is separate and
apart from me, then I am falling into the intellectual outhouse of
anguish and confusion and frustration. Now, either we will forsake
that identification who is struggling to become wise or we’re going
to watch ourselves attempting to live its absolute destruction. Let
me say that again, we’re not struggling to put off the old man,
we’re not struggling to put off the belief of a possessor, we’re
about the business of letting go the belief that there is a
possessor. There isn’t really one so therefore it’s only a
belief, so we’re about the business of letting go the belief of a
possessor, the belief of a mortal identity. This is to end the
belief that beliefs are even going on. When we do this we find
ourselves comprehending what appearances are. I can’t say it too
many times, I guess, how important it is that we understand … that
is, we don’t stop until we understand what the appearance is.
You ask
me, how do we study. Well, with the gentle grace of Light about the
business of examining itself. We study from the position of
Intelligence already intelligent, from Wisdom already wise, from
Awareness already aware, happily examining and being amazed
by its infinite detail. We study by tangibly, practically, actually
living the Light of ourself that has already been disclosed to us
and, I suppose also by ending all reticence to surrender the
uttermost farthing of the possessor of the former concept of ourself.
We study by learning the lessons that come from living our Light
enthusiastically, and of course, by doing what I’m doing right now,
by telling the others that I am my own self-vision of the wonders
that we found. Oh, I can tell you this...listen, we really study
best by coming home to that native intuitive, heartfelt, wonderful
Child, Child of God that we already are. 'I' means identity. 'I'
means identity, not a suffering human concept of self. I let go the
role of an awakening student. I end the identification of a gendered
mortal learning this or that. I’m not even a member of the human
race, I’m not one among many, working, striving, struggling,
arriving at truth. As it’s put in the bible “Line upon line,
precept upon precept, here a little, there a little” I take the
divine Awareness of God to be my identity. I am that. That is Me.
And I don’t hesitate to say so. Right here, right now, I don’t
hesitate to say so that I am the Awareness of God. Reminding myself,
as often as necessary, that Awareness is who I am, Awareness is what
I am, the why I am and that identity is not a human one, not a
worldly one, not a sick, sinning, ignorant or quarrelling one, but
the holy One, the whole One, the Perfect One.
You know, we all know what we
found. We know of the inner peace, the love, the insight and wonder
of being that we have found Light to be, Truth to be. You all know
what the Truth has meant to us over the years. All the hell, fire
and damnation the world can muster cannot efface the grace that we
felt. The challenges we face, like lions in the coliseum, may appear
to tear the old nature apart… the old man… the belief apart but
all that’s torn, all that can be is a concept that was never real,
a belief that was never real. The grace of identity stands
untouched, untroubled, singing and clapping its hands through the
ages.
It has been said that the
discernment of identity is an uphill struggle but it isn’t really.
You may have come here thinking that it was going to be an uphill
struggle, but you see, we are what we are, whether it’s seen or
not. And the simple knowledge of this fact is a great aid. Awareness
is our identity and awareness is aware whether we struggle with it or
not. The fact of Awareness functioning is ever effortless, it’s
ever going about its business of seeing, hearing, feeling, including
thoughts, all within itself, just as it’s about the business of
listening to these words right now. I can tell you that much of the
effort goes out of our daily struggle the very minute we extend the
sense of identity from this body point from which we observe
things...We see, the minute we extend it to Infinite Awareness doing
the observing, unbound Awareness Itself.
Now, as this expanded
identity, the body point is not excluded but it is seen as sort of
the center, the center within an infinite identification that
includes the universe within itself, that includes every grain of
sand and every star and every blade of grass in the universe. So
what do we do? We live this Child of God that we are already and we
live it without effort and without struggle and most wonderfully, I
can tell you that we live it without inhibitions. You see, this
conscious Awareness being us, this Awareness that’s going on right
here right now listening to these words, is Deity’s Self-awareness
in action for which Deity, Isness, Reality, God, is responsible. The
weight of the world, the weight of the entire world and all of its
guilt, is lifted from our shoulders the very instant we stop trying
to be an ego, protector, custodian, possessor of Awareness, the very
minute we stop trying to be a personality, an ego, a bit phantom
bugaboo protecting his flock from the outspoken teachings of
somebody. Once upon a time I was invited most sincerely to go and
visit a man’s group and then he came to visit me…
Well, the instant we stop
trying to be an ego out to protect his images, out to protect his
sense of possessions, the minute we stop trying to be one intent on
healing, perfection…when Perfection stands tall and perfect, quite
without need of healing, the instant we stop doing all of that we
awaken to a whole new world.
Yesterday we had quite a talk
about living judgelessly. It seemed the point was well understood.
Now, I would like to make clear something that happens as we live
judgelessly, something that some of you have already walked across.
Incidentally, to live judgelessly means simply to live as Awareness
itself, to perceive our identity to be just this Awareness and
nothing else. I say nothing else… that includes the world, doesn’t
it, because Awareness is the total function of Mind. So when we
assume our real identity we are not losing anything, we are gaining a
sense of infinity.
Now, the point I’d like to
make has already been found out by many of you. You’ve mentioned
it to me. The fact that, as we stop living as the possessor of
awareness, as we stop living judgmentally, as we stop placing good
and bad values on our images of Awareness, our ability to distinguish
increases, it increases enormously. Now, listen, there’s a great
difference between value judgments and distinctions. It’s a
difference, however, that isn’t very easily understood until we
actually get underway and begin living judgelessly. Then, and not
until then, it becomes apparent just what the difference is. And
then our actions follow suit. Now, to make this point very clear,
let me say it again. The ability to distinguish increases as
judgement ends. Distinguish what? Well, new sights that we’ve been
unconscious of before. We hear new sounds that we’ve never
consciously heard before. Last evening someone mentioned the sound
of the wind blowing through my pines out there. Of course, this is a
sound that’s always been with us. We became very conscious of it
last night, the spring pine…Oh, but new feelings, we became
conscious of feelings that we long thought had vanished through the
years. But more than this, we find an ever growing new ability to
distinguish things in areas that are generally recognized as not
containing things to distinguish. An illustration I might use, or an
analogy I might make is, it would be something like we had forever
been looking at a bowl full of marbles and heretofore they had only
been round. We would all agree, we would say they are all round but,
as we live just a simple credulous childlike awareness, we see things
that others don’t seem to see. Suddenly, we see that not only are
they round, but they have different colors. This means that each of
them is a little different. We see that perhaps the design is
different. We perhaps see that they are different sizes. Now, the
point I make here is that these are distinctions that we are
beginning to perceive and we find that these are distinctions that
others who do not…when I say others I mean only other aspects of
ourself, other people… but it appears that they don’t see these
things. So, I’m telling you again, to answer your question, Betty,
yes, perception does become very clear, very acute and intuitive
alertness develops. Inevitably, the wonder is how we could have been
so darned dumb to have missed it all these years.
As our acuity develops, as the
consequence of living judgeless awareness, we begin to find ourselves
seeing things about things that we’ve never seen before. We find
ourselves interested in things that we’ve never been interested in
before. Oh, we have a broadened, widened sense of appreciation, no
question about it. Right here…well, let me, for instance, read you
something. Here is… if you will imagine this… a very lovely lady
by the name of Catherine Nelson Davis was walking up a beach one day
and in a state of wide open awareness, as poets often are, with that
listening attitude that comes from being credulous childlike mind in
action, and she looked down on the sand and she saw a feather, one
feather. You know, you can look down on the sand nowadays and find
all kinds of things like beer bottles and combs and old tires but
here she was on a stretch of clean sand and she saw just a feather.
Listen, listen to what she wrote:
One airspun pearl grey feather
tipped with whiteness
Brings visions of the soar and
lift of wings
Of fluent grace and sweeping
arcs of seagulls
Of stately lyric beauty and
compelling things
I see the crystal sea
moon-washed with silver
And feel the cooling wetness
of the sand
The sting of misty salt spray
on my shoulders,
The lapping of the waves
across my hand
One airspun pearl grey
feather, fragile wonder
Once etched against the sky or
on the shore
The pinion of a proud Majestic
creature
As free as wanton winds to
swirl, to roar
Can one dream dreams of
loveliness and grace
Without a fleeting glimpse of
heaven’s face
Well, all it was was a gray
feather, and yet Awareness could see all of those things, as a
consequence. And this is not unusual. You too will find yourself…in
fact all of you are seeing more now than you’ve ever seen before.
You know this is so. You know this is so. The Child we are is
alert, sees every little thing that happens and notices every bit.
To pick up a feather is just a feather to some but to this lady:
One
airspun pearl grey feather tipped with whiteness
Brings
visions of the roar and lift of wings
Of
fluent grace and sweeping arcs of seagulls
Of
stately lyric beauty and compelling things
Well,
it may be just an ordinary view to some people but as she held that
feather in her hand she could say:
I see the crystal sea
moon-washed with silver
And feel the cooling wetness
of the sand
The sting of misty salt spray
on my shoulders,
The lapping of the waves
across my hand
One airspun pearl grey
feather, fragile wonder
Once etched against the sky or
on the shore
The pinion of a proud Majestic
creature
As free as wanton winds to
swirl, to soar
Can one dream dreams of
loveliness and grace
Without a fleeting glimpse of
heaven’s face.
Of course we can all answer
that for Kathryn. Of course not, we see heaven’s face and with much
more than a fleeting glimpse.
You know that I’ve long ago
given up on this business of trying to say everything so absolutely
and having everything very profound.
We just say it like it comes
to be said and if we’re honest about it then not only what we say
is understood but what seems to be behind it is understood too. So I
don’t know why I should, all of a sudden, want to read a poem, I
don't do it very often.
I
did the other day though. Maybe because I was a soldier this
particular poem had significance to me. This was written by a
soldier whose name we don’t know and he was a confederate soldier.
And perhaps the most, as wars go, the most vicious war this country
has ever suffered, a time when polarization burst into flame and, as
appearances go, this is a new time of polarization. Listen to these
words, not absolute words, just the simple words of a soldier:
I asked God for strength that
I might achieve
I was made weak that I might
learn humbly to obey
I asked for help that I might
do greater things
I was given infirmity that I
might do better things
I asked for riches that I
might be happy
I was given poverty that I
might be wise
I asked for all things that I
might enjoy life
I was given life that I might
enjoy all things
I got nothing that I asked for
Oh, but I got everything I had
hoped for
Despite myself my prayers were
answered
I am, among all men, most
richly blessed.
Words like that communicate
too don’t they? Of course they do. They point to Love and I can
echo those words, I am, among all men most richly blessed. I am, I
am and I know I am. Oh, and I can tell you that with this blessing,
that I can tell you how blessed you are, that you are blessed with
perfection and purity and beauty and holiness beyond all
belief…beyond all belief.
A
call came on the phone, and it was a lady who told me that she had
been paralyzed and that she was frightened and so we were talking.
And in the course of the conversation, all of sudden the lady became
very excited and almost hysterical and so I paused a minute and she
shouted "keep talking, keep talking, please keep talking,
because I can move my legs, I can move my legs" and so I kept
talking and, well, I got a letter from her yesterday and she says
"I'm getting along fine, I'm getting along fine and I'm coming
to Mountain Brook. Well, I don't often tell stories like that but I
tell it this time because I know full well what seemed to do the
work, what seemed to do it. I can tell you that Love does the work.
Love does its good work. You see, God is Love and God is all and I
know that I’m not separate nor apart from that All so I’m love
too. And I know that the voice that I talk to, or the one that calls
me or the one I see, as I see you right now, you're not separate nor
apart from me. I’m love and that makes you love too. Love is all
that’s real of me of mine, it’s all I’ve ever been or could be.
It’s all I’ve ever seen or could see. Love, just gentle simple
love. Love am I, I’m love and so are you.
And you know, of all the
messages that might be delivered there is really just one message. I
don’t care whose philosophy it is or where it comes from or how
it’s clothed or how it’s ritualized or anything else or whether
that message is human or whether it’s a tree. There is really just
one message and that’s love.
What about the story of
identity, what about Light? What about supply or health or wealth?
Well, the only message is about love. God is all and God is Love.
And I tell you I have nothing else to say. Because I have found the
Love that is the Identity I am. Love is this Me who says ‘My’.
Love is the Light that is being Me. Love is the supply and the
health I am and the wealth I Am.
Oh, but somebody says, what
about children, what about life? I say Love, pure Love, I don’t
care what it looks like, Love is the Child Eternal. Love is Me and I
Am the Child . And I guess I shock an awful lot of people because
they say, well, surely you make a distinction between human and
divine love. I don’t, I don’t do any such thing. Love is love
and love is Love… indivisible. There is only one, One Love. There
are not two loves anymore than there are two identities. Love,
indivisible, one, whole, holy, Me.
Someone
says, what about time and space? Let One be the Love Love Is. That
is, let one know it, recognize It and live it and that Love will know
all that can be known of space. And Love knows there is no time but
Love. But this isn’t good enough, you see, people say, tell me
about gender, tell me about the mysteries. Tell me why I feel, and so
forth. Love, all Love, nothing but Love. I am my own little boy
and little girl. I am my own scuffed knees, and dirty feet, I’m my
own grass in my shoes and rocks and I’m my own dirt in my ears, my
own runny nose and tears and I’m my own bright eyes and excitement.
And I’m also my own fear if I am afraid. You folks know that I
spend much time out among the trees, as much as I can, out in the
woods. I am my own back roads and trail. I’m my own riverbanks
and fields and campsites. I’ m my own hawk that soars above and I
am my own mountain. And I’m my own sweat and dirt and tired legs
and I love Love. I’m my own cool stream of water and firewood and
lonesome campfire.
Love, the Love that God Is,
the God Love, that is all I am… is my sleeping bag and night
sounds. Love is my Lollygog tied there to a tree and that’s a
River of Love she floats in. I love Love. I’m not separate from
my sights and sounds. We are one, one whole total Love am I and Love
does the work. Love does the work. I know Love does the work.
I know the lady will forgive
me for reading these words….This comes from a lady who, as the
world would say, was blind. Listen to these:
Oh Bill, it’s so marvelous,
I’m driving my car, seeing all the beautiful dirty dusty places
that need cleaning in my life, in my house, once more able to see the
steps and so able to work in the garden. I’m almost caught up with
the chores and then I’ll get out the paints and really be able to
express my Joy. One more thing, I know that anything I see is good
because I can see it. What does that work, as appearances go, is
Love, nothing but Love. Love does the work.
It seems to be the popular
sport for the kids nowadays to talk about their destructiveness and
their blindness but I would like to read you the words to one of
their songs. You ought to listen to some of those lyrics. You know,
the kids we listen to are just the youthful appearing of this very
Awareness we are. But, listen to these words:
Come sing a song of Joy
For Peace shall come, my
brother
Sing, sing a song of Joy
For men shall love each other
That day will dawn just as
sure
as hearts that are pure are
hearts set free
No man must stand alone
with hands held out before
him
Reach out and take them in
yours
This love that endures
forevermore
Then sing a song of Joy
for love and understanding
It is the intellectual nature
of us that denies the simplicity of reality, yet wherever the Light
has been found, in whatever period or culture and regardless of the
former beliefs of those within whom this Light is bloomed, or upon
whom it is shown, the words that tell of it, the words that tell of
this Light invariably speak of its availability, of its tenderness
and of its transcending simplicity. Enlightment reveals that the
real appears a mystery only to the sophisticated or dishonest nature
of us, withheld from those who would search for it outside the
childlike essence of his own being.
Now, to those who struggle for
their divinity in the diverse places that conditioned thinking
dictates, those bewitching webs of erudition that titillate the
personal ego rather than dismiss it, the Light remains forever a
mystery. Oh, but It comes, it comes, the Light comes in good
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over and put into
the lap of those who are willing to let go the vaunted sense of self,
to act the simple Child of God that we are, in fact, already.
Ultimately, we see. Sooner or later we see because we're forced to
see. The Light of the inexpressible demands only the sacrifice of
the phantom role that we play, the mistaken sense of Self, but the
surrender of anything less than that is the dream of darkness
perpetuated.
Well, now, I have just said
this in my words, listen to these words with your Heart and hear them
as your own.
We’ve all heard the story of
the Phoenix. The phoenix is not a mythical bird, it is not. It
soars and sings. Even now a new phoenix wings its way in the sun.
His message is a simple story, a warm and gentle story of joy here
for the taking, right here, right now. ‘Fly with me’, the
phoenix sings, ‘fly with me.’ Flames burn the ancient nest and
the old order vanishes. Come with me to my mountaintop from whence
the kingdom may be surveyed as it is, where a warm west wind sweeps
the mist away and the heart soon sings its merry melody. Yes, the
phoenix flies but mankind looks in other directions searching the
crevices for sustenance. Well, who looks up and finds me? Those who
find Light to be the sufficiency they are already.
As for wealth, the universe is
already mine. The universe is already ours. It was the Father’s
good pleasure to give us the kingdom; isn’t this so? As for
myself, as far as dollars go, at least all I have ever had have been
turned loose quickly, in order to write another page or to tell a
story in another place. I have found that to be a hoard of dollars
in this activity is to be a dry well. This doesn’t mean that one
isn’t to have dollars, it is to say that to be a hoard of dollars…
But I can assure you of this, that in this study you will find your
supply becoming ample without a need to worry about your obligations.
You just might as well expect it because it is as inevitable as the
fruit that follows the bloom as the seed that follows the fruit.
One of the first delights
…sooner or later we let that go. We find it isn’t what ‘they’
say that matters half so much as finding out what we believe right
here as our self, here as I. You see, our actions on the daily
scene, our action in the world, our actions from the time we get up
until we go to sleep are determined by what we inwardly believe, what
we inwardly believe ourselves and if those actions appear to be
producing an experience of unsatisfying proportions, if those
actions appear to not be producing the sustenance that's necessary
nor the happiness well then reading 25 more books isn’t the answer,
we had best determine what our inner beliefs really are, determine
what they are, look at them, examine and put them in order. Now, we
don’t need as much help to do this as we first suspect. You see,
it’s really only necessary to examine what we believe and I can
tell you that the very shock of the sight will usually start our
putting them into order. You see, all of us have an inward honesty
built in. There is an inner guide that is absolutely perfect. What
is it? It is an already established identity. No one can tell us
about that so well as we can tell our self. Well, how does one
examine one’s self-concepts. There are many ways but reading isn’t
one of those ways really because reading is a continual surveillance
of other ideas, what other people think. Of course I realize that
those other people are here as I too and this is why we read. And if
one will read slowly and contemplatively then reading is great but so
often we don’t. Meditation, you see is a sitting still and letting
one’s own come forth and reveal itself. And writing is precisely
that same action except it winds up in tangible words so that they
can be examined and looked at.
Well about this habit of
thinking, ‘well, I must read someone else’s words, someone else’s
books” this is of course good. Especially those of us who have had
our reading restricted to official and approved publications, you
see, we are understandably prone to do a lot of catching up. But
yet, how many do we know who have read everything on the face of the
earth, every new book that comes along and they still haven’t
enough spiritual perspicacity to pour water out of a boot. And by
the same token, what of those folks who have never read a word, are
they doomed to some sort of eternal damnation just because they don’t
know about this or that spiritual concept or this or that belief?
There should be a happy balance between reading and meditative
writing, or contemplative writing or just between reading and
meditation or between reading and then going out looking at the
Beauty that Isness Is. There has to be a balance between inputting
and outputting.
Listen, what is the purpose of
human activity? What is real and genuine purpose of this grand and
glorious rat race that we see the whole world engaged in if it isn’t
ultimately to get into a position or to get into a recognized
position within which we are able to help our sense of a greater
selfhood, that is to help others. What is all the worry and the work
and the education and business activity and the schooling and the
personal relationships with books and teachers and hard knocks,
trials and tribulations and health and so forth…what is it all
about if isn’t to ultimately be able to help…help our sense of a
greater self, that is our loved one out there. Are we to forever go
on growing personal roots…you see, are we to go on forever
developing our stands and our branches. Are we to forever go on
getting sustenance and acquiring sustenance and growing bigger and
bigger without ever giving, without ever blooming…without ever
reversing the process? Isn’t it true that every spiritual concept
that has ever been presented speaks of a grand reversal.
Don’t you think that there
must ultimately be a time when all of our acquiring is to yield
itself as a means by which we are to start giving our inner essence
to the world? I can tell you that the time arrives to bloom. The
time comes when we find ourselves in a position to render love and
devotion to our stranger, to our sense of a greater self. The time
comes when we are called on to help others and I mean to help others
with the physical substance of our being which we have scrupulously
accumulated over so long a time and this is the real giving. It is
an aspect, at least, of the real giving that comes home to us
tenfold, hard pressed, shaken together and running over.
Now, this time to bloom
doesn’t happen to every member of the family at the same time.
Those who are along the way of blooming must not stand in the way of
other blossoms, nor should we try to get a young bud to open before
its appointed time. We do, here is I, as comes to us to do, here is
I, running with the Heart and this doing is evermore and more an
outpouring of love for our greater selfhood, for those the Father has
given us to do something for. And each of us, oh, I can tell you
that we are given someone to do something for. Never a day goes by
but what there is not someone-- we are given someone to do something
for-- to do something for. Finally, somewhere along the line, we
awaken and then do that something, to bask in the joy of the doing,
usually to forget it very quickly. But somewhere along the line we
are given someone to do something for. We do it, we bask in the Joy
of the doing and then recognize the fact that this is to be a
continuing way of life and when this recognition dawns we are given
more and more to do for and in the process of doing for them our
means to do grows. As we give the Light we are I can assure you more
and more Light floods in to reveal Itself and disclose itself, to
pass through this minute limited in time and space here and now to go
on out to an Infinite out there. It would appear…I can only say
this in tangible words or in finite or relative terms, but it does
appear that the Light comes from an Infinite Source and goes to its
own infinity out there, flowing through this point in time and space
that we call this here and now.
To never give is to never
really enjoy the process of supply. It’s to never see what
sufficiency really is. You see, there is a time when we input, a
time for growth, a time for intellectual attainment, a time for
recognizing the reasons for the appearances, just like there is a
time for the new seed in the ground to grow, a time for its roots to
accumulate, a time for its branches to grow bigger, a time for more
leaves to develop. But you show me the tree that never blooms, that
never finally reaches that point where it gives of itself and I’ll
show you a tree that’s soon cut down.
There is a saying that when
the prize is big enough the path to it is not a narrow trail but a
mission. The prize of this activity is bigger than any prize the
world can offer. There has never been such a prize. There has never
been a greater reward for the finding. This search, this activity
yields the discovery of the Self. This prize is Love. This prize is
the conscious discovery of light and love and inspiration and
enthusiasm and sparkle and youth. Our reward is the discovery of the
goal for which we have been searching so long. Our prize is the
Light we are, the Love we are, the freedom and wonder and excitement
we are.
Truth is always timely.
Sometimes it doesn’t appear why certain things break into
consciousness but in time it becomes clear. Reasons present
themselves and we see why living intuitively is so important. Well
now, when something comes for us to do we should sit loose and do it
even when the reasons are not clear. The Heart isn’t fooled, we
sit loose and we make ourselves a clear channel for identity, the
identity we are, to express itself uninhibitedly.
In the human scheme if things
it isn’t easy to point fingers at sacred cows, we are all prone to
believe that those cows have horns and the cows out there, the sacred
cows out there believe that they have horns and they sure try to use
them. You see, even when we manage to prick the hide of some angelic
sacred cow, that old religion maybe has hovering over us, the rush of
the escaping hot air is likely to sear us and, if doesn’t, the
canvas balloon may crush us in its collapse but the matter of
iconoclasm should be understood.
Now, it is not my intention
here to be an iconoclast in the eyes of the world, but you see I
couldn’t care less about what I look like to an ‘out there’.
However, it is not possible to tell of my joy without telling how
that joy grew in the face of my own false beliefs when they were seen
for their emptiness, that is, as my joy grew in proportion to the
collapse of my own false idols, my own sacred cows out there.
Really, all I can do is tell what has happened in this experience and
what is still happening, and surely as appearances go, I began as the
cringing willing and obedient servant to the ordinary views that the
world presented, to the ordinary ideas of the world and its
institutions. And now, in retrospect, it is apparent to me that I
did have to divest myself of many false views in order to better see
the real view. Ever-clearer concepts appeared. They appeared as the
smashing of some idols and the turning away of some others. And
always, I must say that always, ultimately, there seemed to present
itself a reply from the idol, a rebuttal of sorts, sometimes sharp,
sometimes hard, sometimes easy but always a response and all I can do
is say that the old nature of us, the old nature of us, the old man,
the old sense of self, doesn’t take its annihilation lightly. It
battles for its life but it’s only a belief and a belief does not
really have any power. On the human scene it’s our belief in the
belief that gives it its power.
Of the misconceptions that
prevail none towers so high or any higher than the Himalayan sacred
cow, which is the institution of human marriage, the appointed
guardian, protector of love. Those who have found identity to be
Love Itself had best talk softly and carry a big stick because even
the light of love shining from their eyes will appear to someone
somewhere in that institution that is here for the appointed task of
protecting love; it will appear to someone somewhere as a threat to
their idea of love and even when it is accepted here and there it
will not be long before the world’s guardian angel of love will
view it as a threat to its existence. Of all the creeping things
that creepeth upon the earth that mankind does not have dominion over
at all, it has to be that institution of marriage which leads
everyone around by the nose, bowing and scraping and having to do
thus and so. Now, this institution has managed to include many new
things within its protective aura, such as home, children, and so
forth. How often we see the words home and marriage all run together
as though they were inseparable when the fact is they touch one
another but they are not the same, else, you see, single folks and
children could have no home without marriage. There is a human
institution of marriage, which stands guard over the most limited
imaginable aspect of human love. It guards, what does it guard? In
fact it really stands to guard nothing but the orgasm, the human
orgasm, but you see, love is infinitely more than that, more than
that, ever ever more than that.
Now listen, listen, these
statements are not to be construed as an attack on the institution of
marriage, as though that institution shouldn’t exist because it
most certainly should exist, it serves its purpose. But this is to
say that we must, each of us, clearly understand that that
institution, just like every other institution that appears anywhere
within the spectrum of Awareness, is included within Awareness and is
not an institution to which we must bow and scrape. The dominion
here is with Awareness that perceives the institution of marriage.
Now, this is not to say again, that marriage is to be overthrown,
that there is no place for marriage or that one is not to be married
or that if one is married that that’s wrong or that if one is not
married that that’s wrong. It is not to say that at all. It is to
say that the institution of marriage has grown to be a grand sacred
cow that leads many of us around by the nose, dictatorial, asserting,
forcing our actions in one way or the other when the fact is that
Love, here as I, has dominion and while the institution serves its
purpose it is subservient to the Awareness that Love Is and not the
other way around. Oh, but these statements, these statements made by
anyone provoke the institution into a position of defense, into a
position of defending itself, into a fear of its existence and so
these statements, we find, appear to a time to aggravate the personal
situation. So it is wise most often, on the scene, to limit our
knowing, so far as talking about it goes, to a yay yay and a nay nay
because surely, too many words can be woven into a crown of thorns.
In the vignette that you have
just heard, an iconoclastic statement was made, or what the world
would call an iconoclastic statement was made relative to marriage.
Then it was followed by an explanation, that hopefully, made
intellectual sense. I know it made sense to the Heart. Now, if you
felt any qualms within yourself with the first statements of the
vignette, if you felt wronged, felt a sense of inner disquiet or
discomfort or shock or amazement or anything of a so-called negative
nature, if you felt that before the explanation, then you are able to
perceive tangibly, by means of that vignette you have been made able
to perceive tangibly the strength of an institution’s power given
it by one’s belief that the institution is the authority rather
than that for which the institution came into being. The
comprehension of the secret is a matter of understanding and not of
words. I have the greatest secrets to announce but all I can do is
utter feeble words that are in the ballpark and then await the growth
of a simple credulous uncluttered childlike awareness to comprehend
them. Einstein disclosed the secrets of relativity, many years ago
and had to use the language of mathematics but the statements were so
strange, so abstruse, so revolutionary and difficult to prove beyond
theory that mankind is still struggling to comprehend all he said.
His language had to await the growth of metaphysicians capable of
comprehending the full significance of his words. Now, I’ve been
given certain things to understand and it seems that I must lift my
own comprehension of these things to an ability to find the words to
say it by creating the sundry atmospheres that will permit a door
opening, first one door, then another, then another until I see
myself capable of understanding what I say. While that may sound
mystical in content, it really isn’t.
One will not really understand
all there is to understand about the matter of supply, the matter of
sufficiency, until he understands about Love, until he has come to
understand an identity that is Love Itself. It is the identity that
Love is that understands the nature of sufficiency and has the
strength to live it. While the intellect may understand…. end of
tape.
************
You are welcome to contact me, Rose Burrows:
dozenrosesca&yahoo.ca
Read more by William Samuel books available on Amazon
lunagirl graphics
