Relinquishing the trance of unworthiness

Please engage in this inquiry with an attitude of gentleness, kindness and sincerity.  It is a vulnerable endeavor to be present with and let loose of the conditioned core of the psychological self or ego. The key is to be very, very, vitally present in the spirit of openenss.  Knowing at times the inquiry may feel irrelevant, false, overwhelming, expectant, with agenda, frightening, dull etc, etc.  Trust your experience.  Listen.  Listen.  Listen.   We are not trying to change anything. There is no right-doing or wrong-doing.  We are simply inquiring, not for answers, but in order to better understand.  Compassion is born from understanding.  

What would it take to compassionately let go of the painbody- super ego- inner critic- conditioned harsh selfconsciousness- belief in separation and unlovability- the trance of unworthiness?  Let's inquire into this phenomena that occurs within consciousness.  

PART 1:  Bring an embodied presence and attention to the script of unworthiness. Becoming closely intimate, like mother and child, lover and beloved to a specific scenario that evokes the "I am not enough" narrative. What words ,images, memories, associations are there?  Where is the belief felt, kept and held in the body, in time?  What are the characteristics of the thoughts and beliefs that attempt to cover up, run from or energize the unworthy narrative?  What is the script of the super ego, inner critic?  What are the emotions?  Where in the body are they felt?  Follow the trail of the thought, the belief, the emotion, reaction and where it goes in the body in order to be held in time and space. You could even write about the process if it feels useful. 

PART 2:  After thoroughly engaging and evoking the scenario of PART 1 ....very gently, very precisely.....move the attention from the scenario held in mind to....What is aware of this script?  What is aware of this supposed unworthiness? What sees the psychological self's story?  And is this Awareness subject to belief, reaction, emotion, thought? Is it in any way changed by the process occurring in time, in the body? Is Awareness diminished by belief?  Are you able to keep, hold onto the narrative as attention is rested in Awareness?  

Read the selections that are below.  The first selection is from a stream of consciousness that came forward as I was contemplating a title for this online retreat.  And the second is a piece from Adyashanti.

What line or phrase or word jumps out at you? Captures your attention.  Raises your curiosity?  Raises your intuition?  Your emotion?  What calls to you?  Keeping in mind, that it may or may not be the phrase that you most enjoy.  It could be the phrase that is most frustrating or annoying.  Who knows how Spirit will call?  

Contemplate, reflect, inhabit the word/s that draw you.  

How/where do they resonate in the head, the heart, the gut?  Do they have relevance, significance for you?  Are there layers that reveal over time?  Like sucking on a multi-layered piece of candy.  What's the flavor?

Are there insights, inspirations, dawnings or messages being revealed through the process of curiosity/resonation-attention-contemplation-cultivation?  What happens when the phrase or word is invited into deep open-field listening?

What words resonate as you attempt to describe your direct experience of THAT which is beyond description HERE in this instant AS you?

Responsive Immediacy of the Heart.  Authentic Whole-hearted-ness 

Standing on/AS the Razor's Edge of Eternal Unfolding 

Returning the "I" to Conscious Unknowingness 

Devoted Naked Simplicity of Immediate Response-ability

The Giving Away of action, choice, hands, heart and feet to the Animating Intelligence of Love

Illuminated, Innocent Participative Relativity

Liberated Heartfelt Wholeness Embodied

Living from Interbeingness, Beyond the Belief in Separateness

Inhabiting the Holy Instant

Conscious Communion: Thy Will/Power IS Done

ABIDING AS IS.

One must be willing to stand alone—in the unknown, with no reference to the known or the past or any of one’s conditioning. One must stand where no one has stood before in complete nakedness, innocence, and humility. One must stand in that dark light, in that groundless embrace, unwavering and true to the Reality beyond all self, not just for a moment but forever without end; for then that which is sacred, undivided, and whole is born within consciousness and begins to express itself. That expression is the salvation of the whole. It is the activity of an inward revolution brought down into time and space. ——Adyashanti

RESTING THE ATTENTION IN AWARENESS

I have arrived.  I am home.

In the here.  In the now.

I am solid.  I am free.

In the ultimate I dwell.

-----Thich Nhat Hanh

When we are committed to sitting in quiet contemplation or meditation we are practicing Being AS IS.  We are cultivating a practiced recognition of THAT which IS.  And consciously, devotedly returning to and arriving in the Here and Now.  And there is the opportunity for the Abiding Presence that IS amongst and amidst all experience to become conscious, in the foreground.  Through devotion and willingness there is remembrance of the True Nature.  Which then begins to permeate and influence our psyche, our behavior and our experience.

 But .......the challenges of life will come to strengthen, grow and evolve our capacity to live AS LOVE.  So let's inquire into this process.  What is the orientation when we are not alone in quiet meditation or contemplation or reflection?  What happens when we are engaged in relationship, out in the market place, in the waves?  When the attention narrows, contracts and binds around events, thoughts, beliefs, emotions and conditions?  In this inquiry I would like to encourage us to identify and give attention to our "ways and means" of staying consciously present in the Here and Now during challenging circumstances.  I will list some examples from my own experience.  I invite you to dive into your own experience and discover the wisdom of your unique expression.

Daily practice of quiet, open-field listening

Walking outside.  Without agenda.

Inspirational writings from teachers.  Scripture from the Great Ways

Meeting with sangha

Taking a deep breath, closing my eyes, inhabiting the moment, giving the attention to Presence, allowing the attention to fall back and/or down 

Scrubbing something.  Like floors, windows, counters etc.

Calling in and evoking Divine assistance

Asking myself a question....such as......what do you really want?   to be right?  or to be Love?

Reminding myself that reality is relentlessly reflective

 Ho' oponopono

" I am a being of Light and I am not subject to these thoughts.  I cancel these thoughts and I Know God's will  and only God's will IS DONE" (from Dr. Hawkins)

I don't know.  I don't know.  I don't know. Disinterest in the narrative.  Simplicity.