Tag Archives: Life

Awareness is Neither Knowing, nor not Knowing

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that awareness comes before knowing, for

Without awareness that there is something we can learn,

We are not open to learning anything.

 

Awareness is an open-ended form and quality of energy,

That can be more or less ignored, as is so-called

Common sense, in different situations.

 

Knowing suggests a certainty that awareness will

Never claim. We can be aware that something is

Not as it might seem to be if we were less aware.

Something is missing, or hidden, from the picture of

Life that we are being asked to accept as reality.

 

However, He tells me, awareness does not replace

Knowledge, however limited or misinformed that

Knowledge is that we have learned through social

Interaction, personal experience, and study.

 

Awareness does not express knowing, and yet,

It does not express not knowing, either. Instead,

It expresses knowing that there is something more

To be known.

 

Trust your awareness, Spirit advises. If you do not

Feel completely comfortable or satisfied with whatever,

Trust your discomfort and dissatisfaction.

They serve you well.

They are voices of awareness, your awareness..

 

 

 

 

Awareness comes before response

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that awareness always comes

Before response, however limited or distorted

That awareness might be.

 

Knowing that it’s raining outside may inspire us

To dress appropriately for that particular

Weather condition, before we open the door.

Or, we may choose to remain indoors until

The rain decides to stop.

 

We adapt, each in our own way and to an

Individual degree, to whatever situation

Life presents us with.

 

We choose how and why to face it, or not to,

Or, at least not yet.

 

Is one of us stalling for time?

 

Yes, you are.

 

 

Imperfection as a Universal Law and a gift

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that imperfection is a Law of Nature,

Which is to say, a Universal Law.

 

Everyone and everything, He tells me, is

Necessarily imperfect, and always will be.

As such, it is a gift of Life, as is our

Awareness of this gift.

 

How can my awareness of my imperfection

Be a gift?

 

Not awareness of your imperfections.

 

Then what?

 

Awareness of The Law of Imperfection.

 

How is it a gift?

 

It allows you to aspire to become all that

You can be, without ever having to worry

About reaching absolute limits.

 

 

 

How we live develops patterns

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights, Uncategorized

Spirit suggests that I become increasingly aware of

The patters of thought, emotion, and behaviour that

I am developing.

 

How we live each lifetime is important, He tells me,

Not just for this particular lifetime but also for how

It will influence future lifetimes.

 

How we respond to any challenge that Life

Presents us with affects and is affected by

The individual patterns of thought, emotion, and

Behaviour that we have developed.

 

These lifestyle patterns; for they are styles among

Countless other styles, tend to become habitual

Ways of responding, or reacting, to whatever.

 

Our thoughts and emotions, He tells me, are

Different types of energies that harmonize, or

Do not. How we understand and respond to

Experience expresses both thought and emotion.

 

Spirit asks me to become increasingly aware that

My individual energies and how well they harmonize

With each other will, does, affect everyone and

Everything in my life, Himself included.

 

What an awesome responsibility.

 

Yes.

 

 

 

How we learn who we are

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that we are as individual sparks of Life

Experiencing life.

 

We learn to know who we are and what we are by

Experiencing relationships with other sparks of Life,

Of intensities that may differ, in some way, or ways,

To our own.

 

They are, these other sparks, what and whom they have

Become, as are we.

 

The strengths and weaknesses of other sparks

Provide us with a means of knowing our own, by

Comparing ourselves with others.

 

This awareness is not meant to be used to judge

Others, nor ourselves. Differences exist and are

As a gift to everyone.

 

How would it be possible, He asks me, to know

Anything, if nothing or no-one differed, or seemed

Not to,, from anyone or anything else, in any way?

How could we grow? or be aware that we had, or

Had not?

 

Awareness of differences can serve to inspire each

Of us to become, not as any other, but all that we can,

And in this way, inspire others to do the same,

Not be the same.

Respect intelligence wherever you find it

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me to respect intelligence whomever and

Whatever seems to possess it, for all of Life does, in

Greater or lesser degrees.

 

Intelligence is a precious gift, as is intuition, which is

A blending of thought and emotion. They are each

Potentials that we can develop through practice until

We refine them into awareness, understanding, and

Enlightenment, and beyond.

 

What could possibly be beyond enlightenment?

 

The experience of knowing that we are one, not only

As we are, now, as one, more or less.

 

 

 

Alone or in a Crowd

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that individuality does not necessarily mean

Exclusion from oneness.

 

We each are as we each are, alone or in a crowd. We can

Never not be what we are, but we can pretend, for

Whatever reason or reasons.

 

However, the danger of pretending to be what we

Know we are not arises when we forget that we are

Pretending.

 

Our response to any experience is a very individual one,

Regardless of how many others may share that

Experience with us. Our personal response changes us,

Sometimes at a very deep level of our existence, our

Being, our essence.

 

This, Spirit tells me, is the purpose of experience:

To help us become aware of who and what we are,

As individuals and as one with Life.

 

 

 

The River of Life and Meditation

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

A wise man once claimed that we cannot step into the same

River twice. Spirit tells me that the river referred to was Life, not

Water, alone. And, claims Spirit, the River of Life contains many

Undercurrents that we must step carefully through to reach safety.

 

The unavoidable undercurrents of emotion and thought are two

Potential dangers we each must learn to walk through while

Crossing the River of Life.

 

How?

 

Deep breathing and meditation can help us.

 

How?

 

Air is necessary to life but only if we breathe in and then out.

If we practice sitting quietly and breathing deeply, while we

Focus on a particular emotion that is troubling us, then

Step into that emotion by breathing it in, deeply, and then

Release it, again and again.

 

Both emotion and thought, claims Spirit, are life-giving energies.

But, as with all nutrients, there is a fine balance between

Beneficial (the Middle Way) and the self-destructive quantities of

Too little or too much. We each must learn to recognize our

Individual needs.

 

 

If Life is a Story

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

Spirit tells me that if Life is a story, and, He seems to insist,

In many ways it is, then the pages of past experiences

That we call memories, are as earlier chapters in our

Personal Book of Life.

 

If so, I ask, without necessarily doubting my wise teacher,

Then why did the past not even seem to hint at my

Present life or provide even a misty vision of what

My future might possibly be?

 

Lack of awareness and narrow focus, He sighs, and then

Begins to improvise Pete Seeger, singing ‘When will they

Ever learn”, from “Where have all the flowers gone”.