~ ~ ~

Let’s Get Naked

by Vicki Woodyard

God said to me, “Let’s get naked.” And I said, “You already are.” And He smiled and I found myself naked as well. God apparently was not turned off by my appearance. He was actually delighted.

“What is this?” I said feebly, “the Garden of Eden?”

God said quietly, “No this is my dream for you.”

“Well, it feels like a nightmare,” I said.

“This is how it feels to your ego,” He replied. “In reality, you and I can work better as a team when you offer yourself up to Me without any coverup going on. And the ego is created as a cover.”

“I read the Book,” I said. “I know the plot line. But where is Adam? Because I presume I’m Eve, in the archetypical sense.”

“You just said a mouthful,” God said.

My sassy remark was “If you’re the Man Upstairs, how did you get down here where all the misery is?”

“The ego’s story is one of ups and downs,” that’s all, replied God. “I took the elevator to the Ground Floor. Terra Firma. Earth City, Disaster Land. Shall I go on?”

“No, I get the picture,” I said. “But You created this mess. You created the ego and the fall and the messes. I want a Get Out Of Jail Free card.”

God smiled. “But you’re naked. I have you where I want you.”

I couldn’t argue with that, but I was miserable. God looked at me and I looked back. We were having a staring contest. Guess Who won?

“Okay, I give up. What do you want me to do?” I said, beginning to suddenly feel better.

“I don’t want you to do anything,” was His reply. “I want to do things through you. You see, I’m not through with you.”

I was now feeling the love, like I was being defrosted after resting in the Ice Age. Suddenly the silence wrapped me up like a terry towel and it was then that I woke up from the dream of separation. God was gone and I was left here all alone.

I knew I had to stay naked if I was to be of service. Oh, I could keep my clothes. I had to dress the body. God meant something different; He was speaking in parables, for God’s sake!

Ye who read this essay with a grain of salt shall be the ones who profit from it. Go thou and do likewise. Dress well but stay naked on the inside….

www.vickiwoodyard.com

————————————————————————

The latest Nonduality Talk Radio show may be heard at  http://nonduality.net/15january2014.mp3

Chani is our guest and James Traverse is co-host. Lots of talk about the nature of nonduality and we play clips from Bill East, Roger Mahaffey, and Mool Mantar & First Slok of Japji Sahib. Singing, laughing, a caller, music, satsang.

————————————————————————

I know the place where this was filmed, the palisades in Santa Monica. I looked for Cesar whose paintings I’d bought since 1965, whose silent knowing was the energy of art. Through the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, we watched each other weather and turn gray and carry that silent backpack. -Jerry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIk4w_fgW98

————————————————————————

Response to In Memory of Roger Mahaffey (who lost his life in a car accident this recent Monday)

A good horse runs at the shadow of a whip.

Or paraphrasing Cesar;
He came, he saw, he left.

The good die young, they say, while, we, older folk
linger at the table chatting neither hungry, nor ready to
go home.

-Pete Sierra

————————————————————————

 

Claudia Mannion
Joker
enamel on masonite
4″ x 4″
2007

Claudia Mannion was born in Montreal in 1949 and had her early art training there. After a career in graphic design and a move to the Maritimes, she returned to university in 2000 to study painting at Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick and has painted and exhibited consistently since then. Mannion’s recent work has consisted of an ambiguous landscape-based ground on which there is a figurative image or motif: “There is a fluidity to this work due to the nature of the household enamel paints I use. Above all, I love paint itself for its expressive and evocative potential.”