Waking up to Mother Earth's ever-present Presence.
Being mindful of the whole of Mother Earth, and all of her parts.
Presence. It isn't a thing. It is everywhere. It is timeless. My dear friend Larry reminds me so very often that it is Presence within which we live, and move, and have our beings. Presence. Let us WAKE UP to Presence.
Page 72 - I found a typo! It is amazing. Lots of careful eyes looked for such errors, and yet one remains. It should read "Waking up to Mother Earth's every-present Presence." I'll fix that in the next edition. There are many names for God. I do so like the opening line from the Tao, which I quote on page 75. "The Tao that can be named is not the Tao." The name Presence has been used by many, and Eckhart Tolle explains it like this: “Presence is the arising of a dimension of consciousness from where you can become aware that there is a voice in the head. That awareness is beyond thinking. It's a space of consciousness where you can be the observer of your own mind—the awareness behind the thought processes." I reference the "Mindful Observing Witness" on page 80 and forward. From there there are no voices running around in one's head... just pure Presence.
Page 73 - Remember the Virtuous Cycle of living in communion with reverence for life. I referenced this first in Chapter 5. Here we are being encouraged to be aware of, awake to, the ever-present presence of Presence itself. You can find Presence when you stop thinking, when you stop talking in your head, when the voices cease. Michael Singer writes about his powerful experience with stillness in his book The Surrender Experiment and his fourth book, The Untethered Soul.
Page 73 - A comment about one of the downside traits of religion. Religion tends to be filled with cognitive concepts and tons of words. Even Buddhism with its emphasis on emptiness and non-belief, has its principles, precepts, and practices. The great mystics from all traditions are the ones out there on the edge, and difficult though they are to comprehend with our conditioned minds, they all point to Presence. The experience of Presence is, as William James said, ineffable. Hence, the invitation to WAKE UP to the Presence itself.
Page 73 - No headlights. Slow download speed. Waling in NYC, head down. There is so much to be awake to when you are aware of the Presence within all of creation, within everything that is physical, and everything that is metaphysical. Awake and Alert. That's what we are after. Ironically, that happens when we slow down and enter into a meditative state of consciousness.
Page 74 - Subtle energy. There are many who have written about subtle energy. It is present in and between everything in creation. Everything is made up of subtle energy. This isn't a matter of philosophy, but of science. Asian religions have been dialed into subtle energy. Google it and learn more.
Page 75 - Where is God not? This question has bounced around in my head for decades. So much of my religious training was focused on finding God, naming "his" attributes, etc. All cognitive stuff. Then comes the question - where is God not? Is God up there in the sky? Sure. Down in the ocean. Yup. In an evil human being. Amazingly, yes. In a saint? There, too. At a quantum level, everything is created of subtle energy. Everything. There is nowhere where God is not.
Page 75 - Is God equal to Mother Earth? What a powerful question. Early in my career I studied Neurolinguistic Programing, NLP. In the process I learned this truth: "The map is not the territory." That one line changed so much of my reality. Maps are made up of generalizations, distortions, and deletions. Stop and think about that for a moment. Maps are not the actual territory, but representations of reality. "God" is a map of the Territory that is ineffable. "God" is a map of the Tao, the un-namable. I am after the Essence, the Presence. Is God equal to Mother Earth? Is one map equal to another? I ask the question, hoping you will wonder.
Page 76 - Mother Earth, her whole and all her parts. Here is another concept worth grabbing. Everything is a whole/part. A holon is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. The word was used by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine and the phrase to hólon is a Greek word preceding the Latin analogue universum, in the sense of totality, a whole. I wanted to say more about this in my book, but decided to put it here instead. A challenging concept that would have introduced a measure of abstraction that would have confused my message. You have to think small, and then really big. Think micro, and then macro. All the way down to the smallest pieces of quantum material, and all the way up and out into the vast universe. Look at yourself, for example. You are made up of an unknown number of molecules, all of which have been here since the Big Bang. All those little pieces of you are gelled together as you. Uniquely you. Then lift up your head and look about. You are a part of the place in which you are right this moment, which is part of a larger place, and a larger place... all the way out to the cosmos itself. Everything is a part, and apart at the same time. And amazingly, it is all integrated. All of it is Spirit, God, Divine, and Incarnation. All of it. Mother Earth.
Page 76 - The practice of mindfulness. One of the great regrets of my life is that I didn't start a diligent meditation practice until way late in my life. In spite of all the recommendations, it was just such a challenge to get myself to sit still. Some of this is because of my temperament and personality, my need for continuous forward momentum. Yet, here I am. It is never too late. There are many apps out there that can help. The goal is to slow down, focus, and to silence the constant internal chatter. There, in the emptiness, is a breakthrough into Oneness.
Page 77 - I'm fascinated by the 2016 book, How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain, by Newberg and Waldman. There are excellent recommendations in the book, based on scientific research, that can help to speed up the process of becoming enlightened. I'll report back on it as I progress.
Page 78 - E Pluribus Unum. Those words are on every coin we have. Take a look. In the years between the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the Constitution, there was a great debate among our founding fathers and mothers. How to sustain the unique independence of each colony, while simultaneously welding them all into a unified country. Too far on either side and there was a problem. The result was a commitment to be a unified collection of well-differentiated states. Often, I seek to foster the same between a husband and a wife, an employee and her team, a company within an industry. The principle is the same everywhere - seek to be well differentiated.
Page 78 - Enlightenment doesn't care how you get there. This brilliant insight comes from a little book with a sustained following. Thaddeus Golas wrote The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment in 1971. There are enormous number of methodologies for getting to enlightenment, each promising to be effective. Truth be told, each probably is effective because enlightenment doesn't really care how you get there.
Page 79 - Oneness. The big issue here, as I've said earlier in Chapter 4, is Separation. To the extent that my consciousness remains fixed in separateness, I remain distant from the Oneness of enlightenment. This morning, as I write, fires are burning in the West and reports of a melting ice sheet in the arctic are on the news. I am One with all of that, and everything else. "It is a global problem," says the commentator.
Page 80 - Loving Mother Earth is Loving God. I know that some of my readers will take offense at this equivalent, but again I ask, "Where is God not?" The Essence, the Source, the Divine is not just separate from Creation, but God is a part of, and apart from all of Creation.
Page 80 - Rumi. I just love the guy. He and I share the same birthday! Of course, many years apart. Rumi was a contemporary of St. Francis - around 1200 CE. His poetry is incredible. It is not likely that he wrote anything, or much, himself. He was a sufi mystic who whirled about in a dervish while others penned the poetry that came from him in his enlightened state of consciousness. I'm not a Rumi scholar, but I know of his great wisdom. The great contribution that comes from this little poem is this: live without judgment. Just be present to the Presence of Mother Earth in one and all.
Page 81 - The sheer grace of awakening. Yes, there is much that we can do to invite enlightenment into our life. However, if enlightenment were under out control we would just snap our fingers, or wave the magic wand, and boom... we would be enlightened. There is something more at work here. It is like being struck by lightening. If I wanted to get zapped I could increase the probability of such happening if I went to the top of Belknap Hill in our city just as a big thunder storm is coming through. I could stand there, with an umbrella held high, and I would increase the probability of being struck. But, it is in the final analysis not in my control. Spiritual practices increase the probability, but not the certainty. Ultimately, grace - the free and unmerited love of God - is what creates an enlightened state of consciousness. The invitation is constant. If you have ears to hear, listen.
Page 82 - Less separate-self, less greedy ego. The Mindful Observing Witness is that part of us that understand's Rumi's little poem on page 80. That field... it is where the truth can be found. A word about reactivity. In Chapter 9, CLEANING UP, I'll speak more about reactivity and its important role as a teacher. For now, let me just say that I give great attention to every moment of reactivity from me, and I encourage my people to do the same. Whenever you get reactive, stop in your tracks and ask, "What just triggered me, and what can I learn about my trigger?" I get triggered when my forward momentum is thwarted. Consistently. For years. Right there is my ego screaming for what it wants, NOW! What triggers you? The more I am in my Mindful Observing Witness the less I am in my ego. Check out Chapter 9.
Page 83 - The Kin-dom of God. I referred to the Kin-dom of God back on page 55. I hope you can see how this is coming together. The more we live out of our non-reactive Mindful Observing Witness, the less separation we will experience and the less greed we will manifest. That ego diminished state is enlightenment. Oneness and Compassion reign. There we live with more Reverence for Life, as Albert Schweitzer said.
Page 84 - True story. One of the companies with whom I work.
Page 86f - A 7 point summary. All points toward enlightenment, toward the Kin-dom of God, toward our shared Oneness. Implicitly, it also points away from the twin plagues of separateness and greed. Enlightenment happens as we become every more evolved, ever more conscious of the truth. As we move from separateness and greed to communion and reverence for Life, we move toward being Enlightened Lovers of Mother Earth.