Monday, March 31, 2014

HANG IN THERE

Imagine paradise has always been here; right alongside the illusion we see. Perhaps the illusion is like a film or screen over the reality which is paradise. Perhaps our investment in the illusion is so great, we just can't see anything else.

Awakening is seeing. Seeing through the illusion. As we awaken and come closer to seeing what really is, all our old doubts and fears rise to the surface. One day we might think, "We are finally getting it" and the next day be thrown into our version of negativity.

Yes, we are awakening collectively and individually, but as we get closer old anxieties arise. Am I worthy? Is it really true? Can I really stop judging? Reservations we have built up over lifetimes.

Some of us may be far enough along that we hold onto love fairly well, but a family member or friend is suddenly prone to tantrums and spats of negativity. They may sorely tempt us to judge. We know if we do, we will be getting in the boat with them. We can hold them in our minds lovingly and imagine healing lights surrounding them. There are times when we need to be strong for each other.

The closer we get to breaking through the veil, the stronger the resistance might be. Pause frequently during the day and do a mini-meditation. Whether we are in line at the grocery store, in the middle of doing dishes, sorting clothes, working on the computer, we can pause for a few seconds, let our attention go to the pool of peace and love that resides inside us. A few seconds of that peace is very helpful in dealing with the illusion.

If one hasn't experienced that peace through meditation then seek a group, a mediation teacher, a book or some vehicle to find that quiet place inside. It is the center of all of us. It is our being. Once we find this place, it is easy to train ourselves to find it when needed. My first experience was learning self-hypnosis from a book and later I found the same place with meditation.

Although, we are very close to a breakthrough, these may be very trying times both for individuals and society. If we can meditate twice a day, we should take advantage of it. And we can do a mini-meditation every time we think of it.

We need to be very, very kind to ourselves. We will lapse. We need to be ready with forgiveness for ourselves and others. We can't lose! The power of Love is too great. We will break through the veil. At times it will feel like we are taking two steps backward for every step forward; that itself is part of the illusion; we can only go forward.

The upheaval in the world will continue for a few more weeks. It could look scary at times. We can resist the invitation to be afraid. We know the dark must play out their drama for all to see. It will help us see who the dark forces are and help us see how we have been  used for others agenda. This time will quickly pass. Love beckons.

Keep remembering to love. Feel the beam of light, that originates in the center of the universe, and is beaming on us right now.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

Friday, March 28, 2014

KNOWLEDGE

It looks like Winter is going to hang around a little while longer up here in the hinterland. Every time the weather forecasters predict highs in the forties they backtrack as the time approaches. Normal high for this date is 48F. The normal low is 29F. We will be lucky if it gets that warm. We did better than the forecast on the snow yesterday. We were predicted to get five to seven inches of new snow, fortunately we only received a couple inches. I think the temperature stayed up higher than their computer models showed so we got more rain than snow. More snow is suppose to arrive on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, let's hope it fizzles like yesterday's forecast.

We are supposed to get our sheep sheared on April 5th. The shearer won't be able to get his truck anywhere near the barn unless we get a major melt. I don't want to attempt shearing them myself. We have done it. Jamie is better at it than I am. It is one of those task where experience greatly enhances the skill level. The professional shearer takes about five minutes to shear a sheep, it takes us an hour.

How to shear a sheep; how to plant a garden; how to split wood; how to build things; how to do carpentry; plumbing; electric work. These things all can be learned and we enhance our skill by experience [trial and error].

Healing bodies; healing minds; taking care of the environment; nutrition; etc. are a little more difficult because there are philosophies, approaches, intellectual preconception that affect how we look at the subject.

Politics; religion; foreign policy; economics; etc. are almost completely driven by ideology.

How do we know truth? How can we be sure that what we think we know is true?

Our minds have been shaped by masters for thousands of years. Our perception has been carefully guided so we will accept beliefs that will help give the most power and wealth to a very small group of people. All wars, famines and other scourges of humanity would have not occurred if it did not aid an elite group.

Presently our media is controlled by a handful of people. Every time we turn on the television or radio we subject ourselves to some form of programing to shape our perception of what reality is.

However, paranoia is a painful state and we shouldn't have to be left feeling that everything is a conspiracy against us.

What do we do? For one thing we can acknowledge that we have been hoodwinked about a great many things and perhaps it is time for us to give up the main medium of control, television. That may be hard for many of us to do, there are a great many worthy and entertaining programs. But it is also a mistake to believe that our B.S. detector is sharp enough to protect us. It is possible to have a balance.

We need to realize how we been controlled. Those into power use division. They create division using fear and an appeal to your ego, that your group is better than their group.

If we are diligent about rejecting any idea that contains fear we may begin to see. Anytime the media invites you to see one group as better than another; invites you to see somebody or a group deserving of punishment; invites you to see a group deserving of their suffering; invites any kind of judgement at all; be very, very wary that you are being programed to believe an untruth.

For me it always comes down to what is the most loving. I think it is the only test we have for truth. We have been programmed from the time we are born to meet other peoples expectations. By the time we can walk and talk the culture and media take over. We don't want to be left behind. We certainly don't want to be outsiders. We absolutely don't want to be outcasts. It is certainly much easier to go along with consensus belief than try to figure things out ourselves and take the risk of being thrown out of the group.

Let us start with the idea, we know nothing. Let us accept only what is the most loving. Let us have only one belief. There is only Love. All else is a mirage created by our belief in separation. We are all here on this planet to create with love. We are all equal beings of light. Our differences are enriching. There are no differences that create conflict. All conflict is artificial and created by those whom would control.

Get it! Most of what we know is not true. See only with Love. We will begin to see. Let us open our eyes, help our neighbor open their eyes. Paradise awaits.

Love and Peace,  Gregg


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

IN THE MEANTIME

Sometimes I feel like taking a vacation from blogging. It seems like I say the same old things. I been expecting, almost momentarily, something to be revealed which will open our minds to a truth that has been hidden from us. I feel we are on the verge of understanding our oneness and our reason for being. I think, soon, we will understand how we have been kept apart by clever manipulation by those who wanted to use us for power and wealth.

I am not a prophet. I have an inkling of what these revelations and events might be and I am sure many of you folks do, also. We have to wait and not let our eagerness disturb our peace.

In the meantime we need to take care of our lives as lovingly as we are capable. Many of us are dedicated towards helping the World Created by Love to emerge. We try to project our love everywhere. We try to be mindful and bless the world every time we think of it. We are being successful. If we look, we see evidence of the increasing light everywhere.

If your like me, there is a place that needs to be looked at. How we love ourselves. The love we offer is limited by how we regard ourselves. Sure, we can forget ourselves and the full intensity of our love can flow out and this can happen regardless of the degree of our self criticism. Yet day in and day out, the love we have for ourselves will limit what we have to offer others.

Let us look at that. If we loved ourselves, would we allow ourselves to be tortured by negative thoughts? Would we allow fear thoughts to enter our mind? Would we allow that little voice, some echo of the past, to criticize us? Would we settle for anything less than joy, peace, and love?

Everybody does their self-therapy differently. Some people get lost in their art or work projects. Some people find when they are in service to others they don't hear the self criticism. Can our minds be free of this negativity all the time? They can.

The propensity to be self critical comes from some where. Did it come from a teacher, a parent, a friend, a priest, a minister, all of these? If we can identify the person, forgive them. I hope my children can forgive me and that can only become a reality [ in my awareness] when I know I have forgiven everyone.

Down through the ages every generation has passed on their negativity to the next generation. We learned from our forbears to judge ourselves, to have self loathing, to never feel like we are good enough. Sure many of us vowed to break the chain but there are many links and most of them are not conscious.

Still we make progress. Our ability to love grows. We learn to accept ourselves blemishes and all. If we can hang onto the truth that we are absolutely lovable beings and all that negativity is false; a product of the duality we are leaving behind, we can reach our goal and know the peace, joy and love that has always been ours.

For generations, folks were more or less stuck, with this negativity passed down from parent to child. Few people escaped it or overcame it completely in the time they had on Earth. We are in a different time now! The light is very bright! When we choose to regard ourselves lovingly, help is available. It is possible, in a very light meditation, to sit and imagine a beam of light [choose your color] coming down from the center of the universe and engulfing you and washing away all your sense of unworthiness. We can take a bath in this light every day.

Let us not settle for anything less, than the knowledge, we are great beings of light deserving of unconditional love and capable of projecting this love on everyone.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

Monday, March 24, 2014

WHATEVER

I titled my blog to indicate I have no idea what I am going to write about. I know it is not going to be long because of the late start and the need to go to town and be back to pick up Elijah, my grandson, when he gets off the bus.

Jamie and I had a long and involved conversation last night and I didn't get to bed until 1AM. I awoke about Six and didn't get back to sleep, at least, not solidly, I rolled out of bed around Seven. Anyway I am feeling somewhat sleep deprived.

All the above is just filler so you will think you have had something to read if I can't come up with something.

I just finished listening/watching a video titled, "Maybe Logic: The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson" 2003. I don't know how to put up websites so you can just click on them, but it can be easily found with Google.

Robert Wilson is an excellent teacher. He talks about how we have our own unique reality tunnels in which we perceive the universe. I have never experienced him before but he explains belief systems much like I do. It is not necessary to agree with him to appreciate what he has to say and we probably won't, as we each have our own reality tunnel.

It is important to be aware that, even though, we agree on a consensus reality, we each have our own individual reality we create according to our beliefs. Our egos are invested in maintaining our own idea of what reality is, so our perception has the potential of keeping us separate, unless we appreciate and honor the fact that everyone sees differently.

The love we have for each other is the only bridge we have. Instead of arguing about how we see reality, we need to honor each other by careful listening. Attentive listening, with an open heart and mind, will bring into focus the person behind the opinion. We may be surprised by what we see.

We are One. Separation is a pretense in order to appreciate duality. All judgement is to some degree the projection of the one judging. We will never be able to see clearly as long as our perception is clouded by our judgements. We need to keep in mind that everyone sees the world differently. If we accept this without judgement, our world is richer for it.

How we are controlled by belief systems is such an important topic that I am sure we will be discussing it again.  I need to go to town and I haven't washed the dishes yet.

More Wednesday.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

Friday, March 21, 2014

BELIEF SYSTEMS III

We need to understand more about belief systems. We all have had them at some point in our lives. They are the network of beliefs, small and large, attitudes and ideas that form a fabric in which you experience reality through. It is how we perceive. These belief systems are formalized by religion, political parties and other groups. These systems are very powerful and decide what and how information can affect your consciousness. We cannot appreciate how powerful they are until they begin to breakdown. Anyone who has had an enlightening experience may attest to this.

Our teachers, all through the ages, have urged us to forget the past and be in the 'now'. What does this mean? To perceive without preconception? How can that be? Our teachers have taught that we can only see what is when we 'empty our minds' 'when we stop time'. We have said our experience is an illusion, individually and collectively. What would we see if we could see with new eyes?

As long as we are in bodies we will be in an illusion of our making. The reality is that everything is energy; so to 'see' at that level we would perceive only energy. We have a ways to go before that happens.

So what it comes down to, life on this planet is how you perceive it. And we have been creating our experience minute by minute by what we believe. Do you see why belief systems are so important? They become like anchors around our neck keeping us locked into a perceptual pattern and hampers our ability to evolve.

We don't need any belief systems. One idea will suffice for all belief systems, ALL IS LOVE. The Great Ones, the teachers through the ages, have taught that when we empty our minds and 'see', we will know that, all there is is love. The vastness, the energy of the universe, all creation, Source is love. That is not a system it is one very powerful idea.

Now is the time to make our experience with Love. Paradise is there for us to see. We need to give up our old ways of thinking and see it. Practice, yes everything takes practice. It would be nice if we could push a button on some chakra and what do you know, you would be there. And, maybe someday, for now, we must all pay attention to what we are doing with our minds.

We need to look inward. We need to clear out the dust webs of old beliefs. We need to sweep up those old automatic judgements we make and discard them. Shine the light of love in your mind. Meditation is a great help.

As we go through our day we can catch our selves when we are coloring a situation, with a color, that is not love. Practice giving up the past. Know that love is not concerned about your past, whether it is years ago or seconds ago. Love doesn't judge. Love doesn't tally your errors or your successes. Love doesn't discriminate. Love just loves. Every second is a new start. Or, maybe I should say every 'now' is a new start. We are as we are Now. When we know we are in a sea of Love, do we need to hang onto a past?

Happy Friday everybody. Happy first full day of Spring.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

THE JOYS OF WINTER

That is, the Winter that is reluctant to quit. It is the Spring Equinox tomorrow. My weather calendar tells me it was 79F in 2012. Hmmmmmm............ it's about 30F here right now.
We got another 8 to 10 inches of snow yesterday. I didn't go out to the chicken coop yesterday. I knew they had enough food and water to last till today. It was near blizzard conditions, but what was most intimidating was my path. It was bad before the snow. It is a trodden snow path that is now about ten to twelve inches off the ground. It was higher but the recent warm weather shrunk it a few inches. The problem is, as the weather warms the sides become crumbly and a foot has the tendency to slide off further destroying the edge. The path becomes narrower, some places only the width of a footprint. Then, of course, it is full of deep holes where my foot went through. I hope you can picture that.

In most years, as the weather warms, I can just switch off the path and blaze a new path through the old untrodden snow. Everything generally works out, as the old path becomes too difficult to traverse, the snow, in general, becomes shallow enough to walk through. Not this year, although it shrunk several inches it was still up to my knees and too heavy to pull a toboggan through.

In the last couple weeks, I slid off the path three or four times, lost my balance and landed in the snow. As long as I can pull myself up it is not such bad event. It is not so much fun if I have to crawl to a tree or a fence to pull myself up. The last week I have been carrying a staff, it helps me keep my balance when my foot goes into a hole and I can use it to lift myself if I go down.

This Morning with the path covered by new snow, we had to come up with a new plan. I had to pull the toboggan to carry the water jug and a pail of feed. From experience, I knew it would be very difficult to pull the toboggan through this much fresh snow. Jamie remembered a walker we had purchased when I had knee surgery about 13 years ago. Luckily we still had it in the basement and it didn't end up in the thrift store like other unused items. She suggested that she walk behind me with the walker so if I went down I would have something besides the staff to pick myself up with. It was a great solution. It gave me the confidence that I needed to make a successful trip. It took the better part of an hour to feed and water the chickens and collect the eggs, a round trip of only 200 yards.

 You know, the folks on Laughing Water Farm are eager for Spring weather.

And Spring will come and it will come with a great flourish. As will the New World which is right beyond the horizon ready to emerge. The Old World is crumbling fast. The love emanating from humanity is pushing back the veil of darkness. We are beginning to see. We don't have long to wait.

This is a time when we all need to contribute as much light as possible to push back the dark. Don't give in to bleak thoughts. Turn your TV off except for entertainment you know contains no negativity. That is sometimes hard to discern. Propaganda can be very subtle and there are entities that are constantly trying to influence us for political and economic reasons. We need to do everything we can to keep our minds in a loving place. Bless yourself and bless the world. Picture all the people on the planet being well fed, clothed, housed and most of all happy. Know that every time you smile at someone, every time you glow with happiness you are blessing some one on the other side of the world. Now be aware of it. Consciously bless the whole world. The dark needs to be pushed back just a little further for the light to emerge for all to see.

We will bring joy, love and peace to all.

Love and Peace,  Gregg


Monday, March 17, 2014

STRUGGLE

Where does trouble lie but in our minds. This has been a long and difficult Winter. I shouldn't have looked at the forecast. It calls for 6 to 8 inches of heavy snow tomorrow. No.............. Oh well, we will make it.

I have been reading an article about the importance of avoiding negative thinking. Humanity is moving into a higher vibration where thoughts will be more rapidly manifest. I definitely do not want any of the thoughts I have been having this Morning to become manifest.

I don't like to struggle with my thoughts. Whatever the event is, the snow tomorrow or whatever, we need not struggle. One can live in the moment and be accepting of what will come. Struggling just robs us of the happiness which is our entitlement. We will find it amazing how our whole world can change by replacing thoughts of dread with thoughts of love and hope.

I was reading another article this Morning. It was focused on our tendency to engage in reductionist thinking. We compare and look for contradictions in all incoming ideas. We parse and chop any new ideas and reject anything that doesn't fit with our preconceived idea about what is true. We tend to see ideas as competitive rather than complimentary. We have difficulty examining two ideas that may have some seeming contradiction. Instead of being able to expand our mind to contemplate the ideas we need to reject all or parts of one. To learn we have to suspend the idea of any final conclusion. There are no final conclusions.

There are excellent examples of this phenomena in all the sciences. The Russian approach to genetics and biological development is quite different from the thought process in Europe and the United States. Yet they don't have to be seen as competitive. The differences can be seen as complimentary and enriching to both.

I am more familiar with the struggles in my own field of psychotherapy. Freud, Adler and Jung each presented a view of man that seemed contradictory to many psychologist. I didn't think they were contradictory. I thought they[Freud, Adler and Jung] were like the nine blind men and the elephant. They were groping the elephant and describing what an elephant must be like by the experience they were having, feeling the part they were clinging to.

The truth, like the elephant, is much bigger than the part we can see and analyze. It is important that we don't stop and conclude we know. The idea of man can contain everything Freud, Adler and Jung thought and taught. Their ideas do not have to contradict and compete with each other. It is not a winner takes all race. It is not a race at all. Our awareness can expand to include all the ideas. With time the ideas that are not based on truth will fall by the wayside. We do not have to compare, choose and reject.

We are on the brink of many great new discoveries. We are going to be invited to accept ideas that we would have thought preposterous a few years ago. When it comes to really understanding Nature, The Earth, The Cosmos etc. we are more blind than those nine men and the elephant. The elephant is much larger than we can imagine and the grasp we have is much smaller.

Let us open our hearts and our minds, as well as our eyes. Be open to new learning and experience. When a new idea is presented, hold it in your mind examine and consider it. Resist the idea to compare and reject. We are going to get plenty of practice. A whole new world is opening up to us.

Love and Peace,  Gregg