questions and responses

*Ask yourself if, in the absence of method, the absence of protocol, was Silence there? When the mind is left without the task of measuring a method, is Silence there? Do you need a method or is the mind telling you that you need a method? The invitation to "be only aware" that I sent out with the orientation letter is a method of sorts that you can utilize. But it is in the absence of method, that realization/recognition shines forth. That being said. There are really beautiful methods of meditation. And if you are drawn to these methods I encourage you to follow your inclination.

*Its not necessarily that the mind becomes more clear. Although that is certainly a possibility and probability. Its that the Silence is essentially, intrinsically clear and free of qualities and attributes. So therefore, really, less than clear. Clear like purity, like transparency. Clear can't really be a quality unless unclear is also available. Quality-less clarity. As the biased mind relaxes, the spontaneous thoughts that do occur tend to be of a more accepting, creative and clear nature.

*Not voodoo new age magic. Not wishful thinking. But the alchemy of the soul. Of the heart. Will burn through all division, and personal bias. Transmutation of emotion is possible when we are willing to be fully present to what is happening now, without story and belief. Just the pure, raw experience. But it isn't magic. Its tried and true spiritual tenets of willingness, surrender, faith and discipline. As awakening evolves and deepens, as the "I" relaxes and fades, that which has been denied and repressed has space into which it moves and bubbles up. This process can feel chaotic, energetic, frightening and overwhelming. But the potential of resolution, transformation, is inherent in the process. A practice of deep, open listening. Of availability, without narration and storytelling, is the key.

*This willingness to walk, without demands and agenda, into the fire is often where many spiritual aspirants "get off the path". We have an expectation that spiritual awakening should feel like ecstasy. We may complain (and then judge ourselves for complaining. Wink, wink), when we get out of retreat, and our jobs, our relationships, our families, our relative lives are right there waiting for us. Retreat feels more real than our everyday life. The true challenge arises when we move into "the marketplace" AS the love we have discovered in silence. We have the opportunity to practice and become aware of what we are believing and how these beliefs are shaping our story of a separate "me". It is the opportunity to more deeply root into the silence that is. To deeply root into the source of our being. And then see what happens. Just for one split second, one moment, give up the ideas that are defining and shaping a story of separateness, a story of good/bad and right/wrong and worthy/unworthy, offense/defense. GIVE UP WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW. Just for one moment, (we can always go back to our beliefs about a situation), but just for one moment, be willing to see the world for what it really is, to BE the world as it really is.........ONE.

Hard choices still exist, challenges still arise, ups/downs/ins/outs, and all the rest. But how are these coming-and-going-nesses of Life experienced when they are informed by and experienced AS Life itself. Rather than experienced from a tightly contracted idea of "me". Find out!

*The doorway to freedom can never be any other place than NOW. Now is the opportunity, the doorway, the potential. The opportunity for liberation is always present. And it is always and only present in the now

*Yes. There is space and room for every-thing. But the realization, the direct experience of this Love as/for All, naturally moves very differently than the concept "it's all good". The Love that I am attempting to describe, and is beyond all description, most certainly can never be encapsulated in good/bad judgment. The mind can conceptualize a Truth and use it for gain. Adya tells a story about how a woman came to him and told him that a fellow retreatant had accosted her in the parking lot with a verbal tantrum. and then used the "it's all happening and it's all good and its all love" concept to justify her actions. This is to completely miss the point. The realization of, the direct experience of the Love that you are, not the concept held in mind, has no motivation to tell a story of gaining, justifying or using.

*In the world of relativity, duality, the apparent opposites exist. Therefore experience exists-- positive/negative, horror/joy, happiness/sadness, cold/hot, friendly/unfriendly, hospitable/inhospitable etc.-- in relative reality, in the world of form, and so we say "it is what it is" but what is it? Is it the name you have given it? What is it in essence? Is it separate from who you are? Find out.

Transformed knowledge, which is an unknowing,

is the way of transparent knowing,

it is the way

of unselfconsciousness.

When you learn this

you can learn everything

and return to everything

and praise everything.

.............

All creatures flow and return to their source.

Transformed knowledge and love draw up and lead

and bring the soul back into the first source of

the One,

the Creator of all in heaven and on earth.

What is created flows out but remains within. So,

when we return to our first origin,

which is our primal purity,

we discover our freedom

and are free.

--Meister Eckhart