Empowered Being and Doing

Marianne Williamson has often said that when we’re faced with a problem, our tendency is to think “What should I do?”, but the deeper and more important question we should ask first is “Who should I be”? Asking who we should be can help us become aware of the qualities we’re embodying in the moment—are we being needy, fearful, or angry? Are we beating up on ourselves or someone else internally? Marianne points out that we will remain “at effect” of a situation until we shift who we’re being enough to become “at cause”.

Eckhart Tolle has the same message: being is primary, doing is secondary. The doing is always infused with the energy of the being behind it. And as Albert Einstein said, “A problem cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created it”. The action that we take is effective and powerful in direct proportion to the level of resistance within us. All negative emotions are indications of that resistance.

So how do we shift who we’re being in a situation? Abraham-Hicks provides an emotional scale in Ask And It is Given and suggests ways to guide your thoughts in order to help you move up the scale, a small step at at time. Below is the scale:

Abraham-Hicks says the first step is to identify where we are on the scale, since we want to make sure we’re moving in the right direction. If we’re at worry, moving to blame would be the wrong direction, etc. By consciously directing our thoughts, we can gradually move up this scale, but the key is that this is actually a feeling exercise. In other words, as we choose a thought that feels just a little bit better than the one we’re currently thinking, we can feel a slight relief within us. If the thought we choose doesn’t result in even the tiniest improvement of how we feel, then we’ve got to reach for another thought that we can believe in that will bring us that slight degree of relief.

Another key to this process is that the goal is only to take small steps, not big leaps. When we’re at the place of worry, we only have access to thoughts that are of a similar vibration, so we can’t leap from worry to optimism. Instead we have to take it one deliberate thought and subsequent feeling at a time. From the place of worry, we do have access to a thought that feels just a little bit better, and from there will have access to another thought that feels better than that one, and so on. The more effective we are at choosing thoughts that truly feel better within us, the more quickly we can move up the scale.

One more fundamental key to effectively moving up this scale is that the goal is always and only to feel better. When we have released the resistance of the negative emotions within us, we will be in a place of allowing the solutions to perceived problems. However, while is very tempting to try to start solving the problem at hand as we move up the scale, this will always prevent us from feeling better and therefore prevent our allowing of a solution. In other words, we’ve got to detach from the need to solve the problem and make feeling better the singular goal. Only then will our doing be infused with the power of our being, only then will we be at cause, rather than at effect.

This is the creative use of mind, as Eckhart Tolle writes about. Whenever we are consciously directing our thoughts, we’re no longer at the mercy of the unaware mind, which left unchecked, will wreak havoc on our lives.

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The Importance of Setting Our Own Emotional Tone

Our emotions are vibrational indicators: positive emotions=higher vibration, negative emotions=lower vibration. Abraham-Hicks says that most people are unknowingly offering vibration in response to what they observe, therefore, they are caught in a cycle of attracting more of the same.

A simple analogy they use to explain the function of our emotions is that they are like the gas gauge on our car—if the gauge indicates we are nearing empty (negative emotions), we don’t try to cover up the gauge or pretend it says the tank is full. We recognize that the gauge is giving us valuable information that empowers us to take the actions needed to keep driving (moving toward that which we desire).

In order to break free of continually being at the mercy of circumstances, we must realize the power that is always at our disposal–setting our own emotional tone, or vibrational frequency. Constantly being in a state of reactivity to what happens is extremely frustrating–and rightfully so. Abraham says at a deeper level we all know that we are meant to be powerful creators of our life experience. In each moment we are creating–but are we doing so consciously?

Conscious Creating means that thoughts and emotions are recognized as tools to be used in moving towards that which we desire. Using thought and emotions rather than reacting to thoughts and emotions requires that we be alert and aware of what is going on within us in any moment. Eckhart Tolle often says, if we get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.

Abraham says, ” Pay attention to the way you feel. And when you hear a “buzz”, we would encourage you to do something about it. Don’t ignore it. Don’t accept it as normal. Don’t assume that it’s something outside of you that you cannot do anything about. Understand that whatever you are feeling is an indication of your vibrational countenance.”

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Allowing Our Well-Being

In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle writes, “Non-resistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe.” When there is no resistance within us, we are allowing the power of the present moment, or life, to flow through us into this world. Similarly, Abraham-Hicks refers to the Stream of Well-Being that naturally flows through us and says that we have an internal guidance system which constantly communicates to us whether we are going downstream (allowing) or upstream (resisting).

The internal guidance system is our emotions. Our bodies respond to negative thoughts with negative emotions. This is actually an enormous gift, because the bad feeling of the negative emotions alerts us that we’re in a state of resistance and going upstream and away from that which we desire. The negative emotions feel so bad because when we’re going upstream, the current (life) is beating up on us. But Abraham-Hicks emphasizes that nothing that we want is upstream.

The idea that nothing that we want is upstream is probably difficult for a lot of people to believe because we are taught that stress and strain (resistance) is the way to success. But Eckhart Tolle emphasizes that the means and the end are one, and so while people certainly can and do achieve “success” through struggling, this type of success is always contaminated by negativity and inevitably results in unhappiness, disease, broken relationships, etc. As Eckhart writes, ” ‘Future’ success is dependent upon and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate.” The negative feelings that always accompany stress and strain are the internal guidance system warning that you are headed towards things that will make you feel more of what you’re feeling right now.

When we’re allowing ourselves to go downstream, Abraham-Hicks says that the physically focused part of ourselves is aligned with the non-physical part of ourselves, or Source Energy. They often phrase it as the alignment of “you” with “You”. Just as Eckhart Tolle says that life wants to be friendly towards you, but first you have to be friendly towards life by aligning with the present moment, Abraham-Hicks says that this relationship between you and You is primary and fundamental to all joy and true success. When we get this relationship right, all other relationships will follow in alignment. All other relationships means not only the relationships we have with other people, but also the relationships we have with with the things we want–financial freedom, perfect health, success, growth, etc.

Similarly, Eckhart Tolle says when we are fulfilling our primary purpose of being truly present and allowing consciousness to flow through us into this world, we will have clarity and empowerment around our secondary purpose (what we do in the world of form). “In any situation and in whatever you do, your state of consciousness is the primary factor; the situation and what you do is secondary.”

Abraham-Hicks says in each moment we are choosing whether to align or not align with this greater part of ourselves; everyone is doing one or the other, but few are doing so deliberately. Deliberately aligning with the Stream of Well-Being is accomplished by first having a keen awareness of our thoughts and emotions and then using the power of our ability to focus to choose the thoughts and emotions that serve us. In this way, thought becomes the “servant of awareness” as Eckhart Tolle writes about in A New Earth.

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What Life Wants From You

We’re usually taught to think about what we want out of life, but if we want to feel a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives, we need to ask life what it wants from us. The only way to be receptive to what life wants from us is to surrender to life by surrendering to this moment, consciously.

I say surrender consciously because we are of course already surrendered to life. For example, we can control certain aspects of our breathing, but we cannot control whether or not we breathe. We’re not breathing so much as the universe is breathing us. But we rarely if ever actually live from the place of this recognition. Instead, we tend to associate surrender with giving up, when in reality surrender is the only way to truly take responsibility for our lives–by aligning with life rather than struggling against it.

It’s important here to bring up a point that cannot be stressed enough when referring to any spiritual teaching; as Eckhart Tolle so often says, the words are never exactly right because they merely serve as pointers to the truth that is beyond words. Language contains an inherent duality that does not actually exist. The phrases ‘my life’, ’struggling against life’, and ‘aligning with life’ imply that you and life are separate. But as Eckhart says, you don’t have a life, you are life. That said, it is the conscious recognition of this deeper truth that makes all the difference in the quality of ‘your’ life.

In the webclasses with Eckhart and Oprah, Eckhart describes how to discern what life is telling us about our purpose. He says “…The answer may not immediately come. Very important part of asking life so that you can be ready to receive the answer is to practice inviting moments of stillness into your life so that you’re not continuously absorbed in the incessant mental noise that we call thinking; most of which is unnecessary and repetitive. So to find spaces of stillness is vital if you want to get to the place where the answers are…”

Inviting moments of stillness also requires inviting moments of not knowing. We’re taught that we need to know what we’re going to be doing next week, in a year, in five years, etc., and while it is helpful and often neccessary to make plans, we should do so from a place of wisdom and openess, rather than a constrictive and false sense of control. If we’re too busy telling life what we want, we can’t hear what life is trying to tell us and may block our own highest evolutionary path. So often we don’t listen because we are afraid life won’t give us what we want. In response to this concern Eckhart has said “Life wants to support you, but first you have to be open to life”.

One of the phrases my Dad uses most often is “Let’s play it by ear”. Not surprisingly, he is one of the most flexible people I know. It wasn’t until just now as I was writing this post that I made the obvious connection between playing it by “ear” and being alert and present enough to “listen” to what life is trying to tell us. There’s always a message coming through, the question is, are we at the right frequency to hear it?

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I Know Better, But I’m Still Feeling Unhappy

I have all the tools at my disposal to move through this unhappiness, yet I’m still wallowing in it. If I were talking to someone else who was feeling unhappy, I would tell them to accept feeling unhappy, embrace it even. I would say that by not resisting the emotion it will dissipate. (Apparently wallowing is very different from accepting, since that dissipating part hasn’t happened) I would also say the reason you’re unhappy right now is because you’re telling yourself an unhappy story about this moment, an unhappy story of a “little me”, rather than experiencing this moment in its simplicity.

I would probably sound much more compassionate than the above, hopefully. In fact, none of that sounds very compassionate at all, does it? But I know it’s all true and I know later I will feel the truth of it again. I just looked up at the title of this post, and remembered maybe the biggest reason I’m feeling so sad right now. In a previous post, I wrote:

The sense of being a separate person is at the root of all our unhappiness and dysfunction…….The sense of a separate self is very heavy-its paradigm is one of neediness and it incessantly looks everywhere but the present moment for that which can only be found and experienced Now. Eckhart says, “Only your Being can fulfill you, but you have to be conscious of it”.

In the same post I also used the following quote (one of my favorites, actually) by Eckhart:

“The world is not here to make you happy, the world is here to wake you up……Conditions are only satisfying against the background of transcendance.”

Yeah, I definitely know better. And I also know that part about how intellectually understanding all this stuff doesn’t help at all when it comes to practicing it. I’m just not doing it right now. I’m not fully inhabiting this moment, I’m not inviting presence–so of course I’m still stuck in this negativity.

Yet I do feel some relief just writing this. It’s like admitting to myself and the Internet that I’m not doing what I know to do to get out of this somehow makes me feel a little lighter, and a little more capable of shifting my attention back to Now. Because that’s where the power is, right? Hence the title of that book I guess. I would put a smiley face after that last sentence but I’m just not in the smiley face place yet.

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Transforming Hindrances into Help

Eckhart Tolle says in A New Earth that there are three words that convey the secret to life: “One with life”. But what does this mean? And how does it help you transform what seems like a problem into something to be grateful for?

First, “One with life” means being one with the present moment. To better understand this, let’s look at a few examples of a person’s (unconscious) thought processes when they are not one with this moment, when they are in a state of resistance:

1. “I don’t want to be where I am, I don’t want to be doing what I’m doing.”

2. “I would rather be there than here and I would rather be doing that than this.”

3. “This moment is how I get to where I really want to be-the future.”

4. “I’m worried about what will happen in the future.”

Almost all of us experience some form of each of these thoughts throughout our day. But if we identify with and follow the momentum of these thoughts, part of our energy is flowing into arguing with what is in this moment. The result is that we’re not truly present. We’re then forced to react to situations and people according to our past conditioning. Rather than witnessing the simplicity of this moment, we’re choosing to be burdened by the story we tell ourselves about this moment.

Yet if we are completely present, Eckhart says we “activate the intelligence of the universe”. We effectively make room for the greater intelligence to come in and guide our thoughts and actions. We would all agree that our own individual minds are a bit of a joke compared to the universal mind that created them, and yet, when we’re not fully inhabiting this moment, we reject the assistance of this greater intelligence. We’re then left with the limited thinking of our little mind that is incapable of seeing the bigger picture.

When a problem arises, in order to allow it to transform into something helpful, you don’t fight against it on any level. As The Beatles said, you “Let It Be”. Negative thoughts and feelings will likely arise, and you can also let them be. The key is to never fight against a perceived problem, because “What you resists persists”. By resisting what you perceive as a problem, vital energy that could be used towards a solution becomes negative energy that sabotages your efforts.

Perhaps what is more fundamentally true is that by resisting what you perceive as a problem, you unconsciously create more of that which you are resistant to. Your outer world is mirroring your inner world. Eckhart says, “Reality confirms back to you that your interpretation is correct”.

But how can you accept that which you don’t like? First, you must recognize that you are only accepting what Eckhart calls the “isness” of this moment. Acceptance is always only about this moment, never about the story around this moment.

In the last webclass with Eckhart and Oprah, this distinction was addressed several times. One relatively simple example used in the class was that if your boss were to treat you with disrespect, rather than expend energy complaining about the situation or wishing it was different, you could internally say “yes” to what is in the moment. This doesn’t mean that the overall story or circumstances of someone behaving disrespectfully is okay with you; it means that you acknowledge, rather than fight, the form the present moment is taking, which happens to include this person’s obnoxious behavior. Oprah shared how she was able to intuitively do this many years ago when working for a boss that she and all her co-workers felt was a jerk. Her co-workers were amazed that she didn’t let this person’s behavior get to her. Oprah explained that at a deeper level, because she somehow sensed that the situation was temporary, she was freed from reactivity and empowered to simply respond to what was required of her each moment, without attaching to a story about the moment. As a result, she opened herself up to the most optimal solution to this challenging situation. If Oprah had internally resisted the behavior of her boss at that time, she would have ironically remained at the effect of his behavior, which might have blocked the much bigger plan for her life.

To whatever degree we are not “One with life”, we are fighting against life. As Eckhart often says, this is totally insane, and yet, completely normal.

We all have countless opportunities to experiment with allowing Presence to transform hindrances into help. The next time you notice you are resisting anything, see what happens if you shift to acceptance by becoming fully present. When we allow what is, we also allow the universe to show us how to improve what is.

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Let Your Left Brain Be The Servant of Your Right Brain

I highly recommend Oprah’s interview with Jill Bolte Taylor on Oprah.com. It consists of four parts, and each segment seems even more profound than the last. Despite having previously seen the wonderful video of her talk at the TED conference, I did not expect to be so emotionally moved by her in this interview.

With the exception of a few different word choices, Jill Bolte Taylor and Eckhart Tolle have exactly the same message: we are not our thoughts, we are the awareness behind our thoughts, disguised as a person. Past and future are constructs of the mind, and Now is all there ever is. We are the eternal Now in which the transient forms of the world come and go. When we are conscious of this deeper truth, the way we relate to each other will be transformed.

What Jill refers to as the right brain, Eckhart calls Presence, and what she refers to as the left brain, he calls ego. Jill describes how after her stroke she lost the functioning of her left brain and therefore lost her ego and pain body and experienced nirvana. Her motivation to “come back” was the knowledge that if she was alive and had experienced nirvana, then everyone alive could also have this experience, without the trauma of a stroke. Each of us can access this inner peace simply by choosing in this moment to let the consciousness of our right brain direct the functions of our left brain.

Despite eight years of constant work to recover the functioning of her left brain, Jill says if she could go back and choose whether or not to have the stroke, she would absolutely choose it because of the insight she’s gained. Before, she was ruled by her ego, now, she is clear about our connection to one another. Jill Bolte Taylor’s outer purpose, helping people access the peace that is always within them, has now revealed itself.

Perhaps my favorite moment of the interview is when Jill mentions her friend Dr. Jerry Jesseph, who “lives his life by the philosophy ‘Peacefulness should be the place we begin rather than the place we try to achieve’“. This is what happens when, as Eckhart says, thought fulfills its true function as the “servant of awareness”.

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How to Be a (Conscious) Woman

{Note: This post was in response to a challenge/experiment on StevePavlina.com in which he wrote about “How to Be a Man” and challenged readers to write “How to Be a Woman”}

Know you’re not just a woman.

A conscious woman knows that, in the deepest sense, she is the universe experiencing itself through a temporary physical form. Until she recognizes her true identity, a woman will be limited by her own mind and unconsciously block her power. She must be conscious of her Being that is one with the Being of all other humans in order to fulfill the purpose of her life.

Access the power of the universe.

A conscious woman knows that what she places her attention on determines the quality of her life. She places her attention on this moment, and says yes to this moment, yes to life itself. She knows that saying yes to life is true surrender, and it is how she taps into and aligns with the greatest power of the universe. She is friendly with all “problems” because she knows that once you work with an obstacle it becomes helpful. And she is clear that there is really only ever one true problem–not knowing who she is.

She knows that ambition for herself as a ‘person’ drains her of power. Instead, she asks how she may be used for a higher purpose. She becomes an opening for the intelligence of the universe to flow through. In this way, she empowers herself and others.

She honors the mother within her, recognizing that mothering is not just a biological function. She deeply understands that giving birth to anything requires saying yes to life. She gives birth not just in the physical sense, but also to her talent, creativity, and power. She knows that what she gives birth to does not come from her but through her into this world.

She knows the universe doesn’t operate like a machine and that it is in constant communication with “her”. She recognizes, honors, and develops her gift of intuition. She practices discernment to hone her intuition and to enable herself to seize opportunities.

Be vigilant in the practice of compassion.

A conscious woman knows that compassion is not weak, it is the connecting force between us all. She does not practice compassion merely when it is easy, because she knows compassion is most needed when it seems most challenging to give.

She knows that practicing compassion is not passive but active. It requires taking action on behalf of the rights of her fellow human beings. It requires a recognition of oneness and being a space for love, growth, and healing.

Embody the feminine principle of the universe.

Being anatomically female is not enough to embody the feminine principle of the universe. A conscious woman honors the sacredness and mystery of being female. She plays her part in exulting the feminine principle of the universe back into balance with the masculine principle of the universe for the healing of humanity. She recognizes the wisdom within nature and knows part of her deeper purpose as a woman is to reawaken humanity to nature’s intelligence.

Wield sexual power with wisdom.

She demonstrates to herself, other women, and men that her sexuality is not her only power. She demonstrates respect and responsibility for her body. She knows her body not as a thing to be judged but a sacred vessel and gift for use in fulfilling her life’s purpose. In her sexuality, she does not merely say “Look at me”, but “Look beyond me, to the sacredness and mystery of life itself”.

Take responsibility for your inner state.

A conscious woman is aware of the collective female pain that resides within her. She is as conscious as possible in her expression of negative emotion. She observes emotions as she would passing weather patterns. She allows the negative emotions to be. She knows that by not resisting unhappiness, by allowing unhappy feelings to be, they will dissipate. She doesn’t identify herself as depressed or angry–instead she recognizes that she is experiencing the temporary energy form of depression or anger. In this way she depersonalizes negative emotions. But she also knows that mere expression of negative emotions will not be enough to dissolve them. She must be aware of the cycle of negative emotions feeding into negative thinking. Through awareness, she transforms negative energy into positive energy. Then she can consciously set the tone of her experiences and the vibrational frequency of her life.

Laugh. A lot.

She is serious about fulfilling her life’s purpose, but she does not take herself seriously. She recognizes and embraces the impermanence of her physical body and feels the joy of just Being. She celebrates life and creates a space in which others can celebrate life.

Appreciate a great pair of shoes.

Preferably they are vegan shoes, but the point is she is able to enjoy the material things of this world because she recognizes their transience and relative unimportance. Because of her wisdom of detachment, she is able to more deeply celebrate the beauty and transient nature of all things in the world.

Posted in Emotions, Humor, Non-Resistance, Presence, Purpose | 8 Comments » |

Eckhart Tolle’s teachings

What aspects of Eckhart Tolle’s teachings would you like to see explored here at invitepresence.com? Please leave your suggestions in the comments section or email editor@invitepresence.com…..

Namaste!

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Deepak Chopra’s Book “Why is God Laughing?”

I just found out about Deepak’s new book coming out on June 3 called Why is God Laughing?. The forward is written by Mike Myers (Guru Pitka!) and the book, which is in the form of a novel, deals with the deeper spiritual meaning of laughter. Here’s the last part of Mike Myer’s forward:

…Henri Bergson, in his essay “Laughter”, said that laughter is an autonomic response from deep in the reptilian part of our brain, and that it is triggered by the realization of our own mortality. In these pages Deepak has managed to dramatize this brilliantly in the form of Mickey Fellows, a comedian forced to face his darkest fears. Deepak shows us that there is darkness in the world and that comedy is a candle; he encourages us to meditate on the candle and not the darkness.

Why is God laughing? He gets the joke.
- Mike Myers

In season three of the Sundance Channel’s Iconoclast Series, Deepak Chopra and Mike Myers interviewed each other, and that was where I first heard them speak of this deeper significance of laughter.

All my favorite spiritual teachers actually use humor often…and aren’t there stories about people becoming enlightened and responding with laughter?

You wouldn’t necessarily know it from the webclasses with Eckhart Tolle and Oprah, but Eckhart is actually quite hilarious when he gives talks. He uses a lot of different silly expressions to illustrate the insanity of the ego and pain body, and many times will have the audience roaring with laughter…

What do you think about the relationship of laughter to spirituality?

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The Root of All Our Unhappiness and Dysfunction, and The Shift to Purpose and Fulfillment

The sense of being a separate person is at the root of all our unhappiness and dysfunction. Each of our lives, whether deemed extraordinary or mundane, will, in the words of Eckhart Tolle, pop like a soap bubble. He says each person is a flicker in the life of the universe. This is depressing to the ego because the ego only knows form-that which is transient. But if we can recognize that this sense of a ‘little me’ is illusory, we will ironically begin to experience the miraculous nature of our seemingly individual lives.

The sense of a separate self is very heavy-its paradigm is one of neediness and it incessantly looks everywhere but the present moment for that which can only be found and experienced Now. Eckhart says, “Only your Being can fulfill you, but you have to be conscious of it”. When we only know ourselves as a separate person, we don’t truly experience life. Instead, we end up living through the veil of judgement-when we interact with so-called others, we don’t sense the Being that is one with our Being, we only see our mind’s interpretations and labels and whether or not ‘this person’ has something that ‘I’ want. This way of existing gradually makes us feel less and less alive. We don’t truly meet a human being, or an animal, or tree, or flower, unless we look through stillness and recognize them as the same essence that we are. Eckhart says true love is the recognition of the “other” as you.

One of my favorite quotes from Eckhart is “The world is not here to make you happy, the world is here to wake you up…Conditions are only satisfying against the background of transcendence”. This brings us to the core of A New Earth, which is that our primary purpose is to know ourselves as and thus to live from Presence (Being, stillness, unconditioned consciousness, the space in which all the forms of the world come and go). Our primary purpose is to fully inhabit the present moment, all there ever is. Past and future are thoughts–you only ever experience them as the present moment. It is only due to the limitations of the human mind that we perceive a past and a future. There is only ever one Now and the forms within the space of Now come and go. In the deepest sense, we are one with the present moment-whether or not we are conscious of this truth determines whether we feel the joy of Being.

So our primary purpose is to fully be where we are and to fully do what we are doing. Eckhart says the means and the end are one, so if we reduce the present moment to a means to an end (how the ego operates), the seeming next moment will arise out of resistance and dysfunction. Whereas if we are at one with the present moment, and therefore one with life, the intelligence of the universe can come through us into this world of form-and we will be consciously fulfilling our primary purpose.

Our secondary purpose is what we create outwardly in the world of form. Our secondary purpose exists within the realm of time and will therefore change and be dependent on circumstances, whereas our primary or inner purpose stems from the timeless dimension and will always be the same. It is only when our secondary purpose is, as Oprah said in the last webclass with Eckhart, “fueled by” our primary purpose that our lives will feel meaningful and we will be fulfilled. When we balance doing and Being, our ‘individual’ lives are freed to become works of art on the canvas of life.

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