In group therapy last night we had fun going through a book called the Guardians of Being with words and ideas by Eckhart Tolle and art by Patrick McDonnell. This is a simple consciousness expanding book with delightful pictures to go along. If you are a pet owner with any bent towards awareness this book is a must read.
Here is one of my favorite quotes: “What is it that so many people find enchanting in animals? Their essence, their being is not covered up by the mind, as it is in most humans. And whenever you feel that essence in another you also feel it in yourself.” Eckhart Tolle
That essence in you and I is beyond our personality, our cleverness, our thoughts, our achievements, our power, or anything our world would usually value. That essence is in all living things including our pets, the ecosystem of the Amazon, a herd of elephants, the solar system, and the creative force of the universe.
Where is that essence located in us? Could it exist in each cell as life force? Or be in our heart with its unlimited capacity to feel and be love? Could it be that this essence is not individually located but found when we experience the unity of all things? Or is it our breath interacting with the universe? Maybe it is all of these or something our words and ideas can’t wrap around?
Our essence is not realized by any cognitive process. It is much more a feeling sense, a knowing beyond ordinary thoughts, an intuitive understanding. Stillness is a very direct passageway into the light of knowing.
When was the last time you connected with your essence? You will always know when you do because the feelings of that connection are so expansive that much of what separates us from the other drops away and the heart opens with such compassionate grace.
By the way, the creative flow is another powerful doorway to understand the greater possibilities that exist within our essence.
I have been inspired to keep this novel experiment going so here is page three:
No Little Louie is fine (how could you think that?) but his bribe demands were too heavy as I dug the trench in his backyard for his gerbil swimming pool. Do gerbils swim or is this twerp up to some kind of mad experiment? My guess is with madness.
There must be some kind of structure to this book my inner do-what-is-right-self proclaimed. What are the basic elements need for the alchemy of this novel. For now the elemental table is under construction but the parts that have arrived so far or lie in waiting include: out-of-body-experiences, insightful moments, travel twists, friend references, unique messages from the universe and a free form. That is enough order in the court.
Off in the background the dishwasher did a monotonous two-step. The foreground was occupied by bunch of gray matter trying to not interfere with the flow of things even as I noticed the word count pass 1000 words. That isn’t bad for an effortless effort.
The brown pages of Be Here Now still send me trippin even though I never really tripped. In the California desert between LA and Vegas with the friendly intervention of some chemicals I dropped the ego in the sand and found instead a place called unity consciousness. Everything slowed down and I explored a freedom from self-identity. It was a wonderful walk that I never wanted to end.
Insight: I suspect that OBE travels offer similar access to expanded states of being with a little less heart and more visualization. Other levels of exploration still sit on the shelf of endless possibilities down the street from eternity.
The flow can get bumped in the explanation of things and then I heard the laugh of the big-armed guy down the hall and I knew I was back at it. This is about fun, about expression and letting go of the self-imposed structure of ordinary life. Freedom, thank god almighty free at last. Thank you Martin.
When I went to the mailbox today there was a postcard with a beautiful picture of some place. On the backside the note said:
Thank you for listening with your heart.
(It was signed by) The Universe
I took this as a sign that I was doing something right. In celebration I laid down on my launch pad and went into orbit around my heart, which I now realize has a garden. I think Eve ate an avocado and god’s punishment was that She gave it a huge seed.
On this journey I entered a field somewhere on the Kansas plains and walked until I was carried away by a tornado and deposited back at Bobbi’s Diner just in time for the Thursday vegetable lasagna special. Bobby Flay would badly lose this throwdown. But Guy’s already been here and high-fived it.
This novel adventure is fun and I was thinking should I do this separately or continue it here as part of my regular posts?