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#4021 -
The Nonduality
Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Dustin
LindenSmith, stay at home dad to three kids, jazz
musician, writer, was my guest on
http://nonduality.com/nondualitystreet_dustinlindensmith21september2010.mp3
(You may have to reload
the page to get the complete podcast to play.)
Everything. Is.
Perfect.
by Ben Ralston
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/09/everything-is-perfect/
Buddha said: “There
is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.”
It is so easy to fall
into the trap of looking at the world and finding fault.
When we look, we find what we are looking for—every time.
Because we are creators. We create our reality in the form that
we choose. We are all-powerful.
If you want to experience
peace in the world around you, there must first be peace in your
heart.
If you would like to
experience abundance, you must first find abundance in your Self.
If you would like to know
more joy, seek that place inside yourself where joy comes from.
The world around us is
perfect. Do you see it?
Through a telescope: All
the galaxies expanding and contracting in the eternal rhythm of
life (universe)…the planets dancing round each other in
their perfect orbits.
Through a microscope: all
the internal systems expanding and contracting in the eternal
rhythm of life (breath)…the electrons and neurons and atoms
and molecules dancing round each other in their perfect orbits.
(I am
not a scientist, forgive any factual errors!)
But the fact remains that
on looking up, we see macrocosm; on looking down, we see
microcosm. There is a perfect symmetry to the world around us, a
perfect order. This is the truth behind the ancient Hermetic law:
“As above, so below; as below, so above. As within, so
without; As without, so within.”
When we see chaos, it is
because we have created chaos. When we experience suffering, it
is because we have attached ourselves to suffering. When we find
we are without, then it is time to look within!
Then it is time to learn
from our mistakes, to ask ourselves “what am I trying to
teach myself?,” and to re-learn to see the world as a child
does.
A child sees through eyes
that are untainted by expectation. It sees things as they are.
Let us see things as they
are. Without fear. Without expectation. Without judgement.
Without shame.
Don’t look. Have the
courage to see.
It means that we must
open ourselves completely.
It means that we must not
hold on to what we think we know.
It means letting go of
all that is comfortable.
Sound scary? It is, I
know.
But the trade-off is
this:
We step out of our little
bubbles, our little comfort zones; and into a whole new world of
beauty and joy.
We realize that we are
infinitely connected to all that is, in unimaginable
ways—unimaginable because we cannot experience that reality
with our imagination, with our thoughts, or with our ideas. Only
through being, can we come to know that bliss.
A student asked me:
“What about war?
What about rape? What about all the suffering in the world? How
can you say that is perfect?”
It’s a good
question, and not one that is easy to answer!
But the answer is this:
All human suffering is
caused by our belief in duality. When we believe that there is
suffering, there is. When we believe that the world is a hard
place, it is. When we look for problems, we will certainly find
them. And that is what we have been doing for a very, very long
time.
Now, in this age, on this
day, at this moment, you and I can change all that.
At any moment, any one of us, no matter our circumstances, can
change. We can always look inside ourselves and choose a
different way. We can always look inside ourselves and let go of
the pain, the suffering, the depression, the anger, the lack.
We can always see beauty,
joy, and love, within. Because that is where it comes from. And
if we all do that, then war, rape, and suffering itself, will
disappear. We, mankind, create them with our negativity.
We are perfect as we are.
God, whether you think of him/her/it as a being, or an energy, or
nature herself, doesn’t make mistakes.
The following is a
repeat, with supplemental material, about Vicki
Woodyard's new book, Life With A Hole In It.
The reason it is being repeated is because the link to purchase
the book did not work. Here is the link and I've also included it
at the end of this entry:
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4931.html
Here are a couple recent
reviews:
I am on a week long vacation to
printed out the first 75 pages of your book. I reached the
airport three
hours before the flight. I sat near a huge window, on a black
rocking
chair with the view of the runway and huge white puffy clouds in
the sky.
The next couple of hours were beautiful with a combination of
reading,
admiring the clouds, introspecting my own life situations and
trying to
hold back tears. It was a beautiful experience and a great start
to my
vacation. I almost finished the first 75 pages by the time I
reached
facts, truths and some funny pages. Thanks. - S.B.
LIFE WITH A HOLE IN IT
has a big heart. Through stories of seeking
enlightenment and the sense of enlightenment as a "dirty
word," through
tales of a teacher and loved ones dying of cancer and the pain of
watching them die, to a sense of beautiful, quiet peace at the
end of
these stories, the book has all the gritty, earthly feel of a
personal
life transformed by a sense of the bigness of the
impersonal. This is
good reading. It made me smile and laugh. The words are drenched
with
love and a sense of humor along with reverence and awe for
the mystery
of life. I recommend this book!
- Scott Kiloby,
Author of Reflections of the One Life, Love's Quiet
Revolution, and Living Realization.
Life With A Hole
In It
Since the title of my book is Life With A Hole In It, I have been
led to
ponder all of its implications. And being an intuitive writer, I
am now
going to open up the forum to my writing self and let her speak:
A large hole was made in your life when your daughter died. It
felt like
a large asteroid had crashed into your spirit leaving a
Tears. And yet you knew in your heart that it would not crush
you. You
also knew that life as you knew it was over. The new one that you
began
to live one day at a time was about as appealing as a
leper’s kiss. Was
there a Christ in you that could embrace it?
It would take years and years to learn to do that. The professor
who
taught the course in how to survive the death of a child never
showed up
for class. Like an orphan yourself, you sat alone waiting for the
teacher to show.
Life went on in a terribly cockeyed way. Holidays came and went
with no
one being one whit happier. They actually made you sadder than
sad. Not
for you was trimming a tree with a seven-year-old’s favorite
ornaments
hung at the top of the tree. Too sad for words.
You found a tough spiritual teacher who drew you directly into
the fire
and you were glad to go. For you were used to fire. What you
weren’t
used to was light. But now you craved it and you would sit for
large
chunks of time absorbing the written wisdom and spoken words of
the
wise. Your teacher seemed to know his stuff.
And then your husband got his fatal diagnosis and for a second
time in
your life you went through hell. Your child and your husband both
had
about the same length of time to live and you knew that you would
be a
survivor yet again. But this time you found your voice and your
passion
to tell the truth yourself. And that is how you go on. Like the
Energizer Bunny, you run on the battery of the beyond within. It
is a
mystery and a blessing how everything works out when you
determine to go
the distance.
Vicki's book, LIFE WITH A HOLE IN IT, can be ordered here.
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4931.html
Note from Vicki:
All of you who know me from the Nonduality Salon are
familiar with my work. The book needs to get out there and I am
hopeful
that some of you will help move my work forward by buying a copy.
It
isn't easy to market a book on your own, but hopefully it will
sell by
word of mouth. Someone said it could be an underground success.
From her
mouth to God's ear. It was a labor of love and now needs to be
shared...So do what you can. Thanks and love.
"This is a book of truth, wisdom and humor. It comes from
the bones, not
the brain. A magnificent brew...buy this book! " Mary
Margaret Moore,
author of "I Come as a Brother" The Teachings of
Bartholomew.
Vicki Woodyard