Waking Up

Writing this blog is sometimes like opening a series of Chinese boxes. I write one post and that reveals something else which I have to write. In a recent post, I mentioned the idea of us 'waking up', and I thought it might help if I made it plain what I meant by that.

What I am talking about is coming to know from moment to moment that the ideas we've been discussing in this blog are a reality: that everything in the universe, ourselves included, are a single entity. We are all one. We are all part of the same being: part of a living energy field which some may choose to call God. This is what I am suggesting (very politely) in this blog.

But I'm not expecting you to believe this just because I say so. This isn't about 'belief'. All I suggest is that you approach these ideas with an open mind and an open heart and see what you make of them. Do they seem 'right' to you? Do they resonate in any way in your consciousness? If they do, or even if you are not certain about it, perhaps you will investigate some of the teachers I mention in this blog and some of the practices I suggest. I've mentioned some of these already but there are many more to come. It is all about finding a way to connect to that field of energy: that same field which lies behind the illusion we think of as matter. It is all about waking up to what is real.

This does not mean abandoning any belief system you may already have. I'm not trying to turn anyone away from any belief which already serves them. It seems to me that the concept of unity is entirely consistent with the great spiritual traditions and I'd like to talk about this in a future post. But at the same time, there isn't any conflict either if you don't believe in God. The energy field we're talking about can simply be viewed as a natural phenomenon, which doesn't have to be labeled as 'God' if you'd rather not.

This 'waking up' can also be called 'enlightenment', which might be described as 'a lightening of the load', literally a lifting of the burden of life from our shoulders. After all if we are really all part of the same being, if when we look into someone else's eyes, we see only ourselves looking back, where does this leave our striving for position, our need to stay 'ahead of the pack', our constant attention to the image of ourselves we display to the world?

In our present state, it as though we are all carrying an enormous statue of ourselves on our shoulders, a statue which we believe is of enormous interest to everyone else around us, all of whom are constantly studying the statue and seeking to identify some deficiency in it. In actual fact, unknown to us, our statue is hardly noticed, for everyone is too busy taking care of their own statues to pay any attention to ours. When we wake up, we realize this and can finally lift that statue, that great burden we have carried the whole of our lives, from our shoulders. We can finally feel the lightening of the load.

Happy New Year to you all! May the years ahead bring a lightening of the load for humanity...

Comments

[Templar]

There are many who believe that the planet we live on is a living entity in itself...I do believe this is known as the Gaia Hypothesis and was first formulated by James Lovelock in the 1960s. His initial hypothesis was that the biomass modifies the conditions on the planet to make conditions on the planet more hospitable – the Gaia Hypothesis properly defined this "hospitality" as a full homeostasis. Lovelock's initial hypothesis, accused of being teleological by his critics, was that the atmosphere is kept in homeostasis by and for the biosphere.

Lovelock suggested that life on Earth provides a cybernetic, homeostatic feedback system operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota, leading to broad stabilization of global temperature and chemical composition.

If the earth can be classed as a single organism which can regulate itself...then why can we not think likewise about the universe?

[jennifere]

I often ponder the idea that a neutrino can exist for trillions of trillions of years in our body and never encounter a particle. We used to think we are a solid mass but in reality we are emptiness; seamlessness; infinite potentiality. This nothingness is that from which everything has emerged so I consider it God as it is Source. It is also the same essence that is everything. Waking up to me, means really feeling this sense of unity and oneness; it means bringing this reality into our lives and letting go of our past beliefs. I truly believe when humankind "gets" this, or "wakes up" our world will be quite different. I envision a world of peace and goodness as we realize we are not separate but one. What we do to one another and our earth we do to ourselves.

Thank you for your thoughts!

Wishing you a wonderful New Year!

Jennifer

[Sally]

May we all feel a lightening of our load as we move into 2007.
By coincidence (or not) during a new year blitz on my room today I came across a passage I had copied from a book by MIke Robison if I may quote a bit here......
"Enlightenment is not a finished state. It is a reward upon the path of progress. To be enlightened is to have lightened the load you carry. We do this by becoming aware of our thoughts,words and actions. Many people believe that enlightenment occurs on top of a mountain where a bolt of white light hits the person and makes them an all knowing being. This can occur if you are ready and have become the master of your way of being,but for most of us enlightenment occurs because because we realise something about our self,others or a situation. It is as though the light has been turned on, which enables you to see the truth. These small flashes of light are what transforms us,because once we become aware,we can act in the right way."
So as you say Simon to see the statue/burdon we have carried throughout our life is an amazing awakening. Then day by day as we see more and more of the old patterns come into play and we really watch that .....gradually more of the self crumbles away. Maybe it is a case of bits of the statue begin to crumble as we see it more clearly?
My best to all and thanks for the messages Simon.
Sally

[Desiree]

This was most a most interesting read. I think we can indeed all be of one. It would certainly explain how God can be everywhere and why we're so interconnected. Whatever the case may be the world is so much bigger than us and there is so much we can't possibly understand.
Thank you for such an interesting post. Happy 2007 to you! Wishing you peace, love and happiness.

[Secret Simon]

Welcome Templar and welcome back everyone else - thank you for your comments and good wishes! Is it just me or is there a buzz in the blogosphere this new year's day?

As regards Gaia, Templar, I wonder if some feedback switch will shortly be tripped which will release a little wisdom humanity's way? Perhaps to wake us up sufficiently that we don't destroy ourselves and the planet?

Jennifer - this is the future which I also envision. In such a world there would still be all sorts of challenges to face and arguments about how to achieve them, but it would make such a difference if we were really all working for the good of humanity and the universe instead of in our own individual interests.

I only hold to this dream because I have been given glimpses of how this new consciousness might feel. These glimpses were indeed like bolts of lightening, moments of revelation which came upon me in an instant. But they were glimpses only, a foretaste of what is possible. The real process of waking is more as Sally (and Mike Robison) suggest. It is a very gradual process, and I myself am only hearing the first stirrings of birdsong in the distance! The way I live my life is, to be honest, very little different from how it ever was, but the difference now is that I am aware of how I am behaving and how it could be different. And as I am aware of this, "more of the old self crumbles away" (to quote Sally). Sometimes I'm sure that this is correct. At others, I do not seem to be making very much progress. But I no longer see any other path to follow.

Desiree - I agree there is so much that we can't understand - yet I seem to be compelled to try! It does make you wonder, though, why so many people think they know *exactly* what is going on and get very, very upset when they learn that other people have different ideas. There are a lot of similarities in what we all believe. May 2007 be the year we all start searching them out!

[carrie]

it is good to remember this.

[thethinker]

I like how you say "But I'm not expecting you to believe this just because I say so." Some people, in spreading their ideas and opinions, try so hard to force their own thoughts down your throat, as if by force they can somehow make you adopt the same beliefs. And then, there are some people who present the idea as "It's mine. It doesn't have to be yours too, but here's why I think you should listen up." Those types of people are much more persuasive, in my humble opinion.

Happy New Year to you as well.

[Mares]

Hello
Am so enlightened to have found your blog. Am a teacher of Religion in a High School and am surrounded by a number of people on an amazing labryinth of journeys towards the Center/Being. Enlightenment is a relationship with so many facets/faucets.
Would appreciate staying in touch with your spaces as my hungry soul needs it so much.
Mares

[Mark]

Very good post. Happy New Year. May we all travel a little lighter each day on our spiritual journey!
Keep up your inspiring work!

[Secret Simon]

Happy New Year to everyone!

Carrie and Mark - thanks for your comments and encouragement!

Mares - I'm delighted to hear from you - welcome to my blog! Do please stay in touch and I look forward to hearing from you again.

Thinker - I'm glad you like my approach. I get as irritated as most people do by those people who knock on your door and try to impose a rigid set of beliefs on you. I'd hate my blog to be viewed in the same light and I'm very concerned that it won't be! Yes, I have some ideas that I want to put forward here, but all I'm hoping is that people will listen and see what they think - and I'm always happy to hear other points of view.

[Amit]

Hey there and a wonderful happy new year to you all.

The concept of oneness is becoming very prolific especially when you look around at blogs all over the internet, I for one also talk about the same thing now. When I was younger, my spiritual teachings taught me about separateness which never "felt" right to me. When I first got introduced to the concept of "oneness" through reading the "Conversations with God" series of books it truly felt right to me and gave me an entire new perspective of life and love.

Thank you for your inspiring posts as always! :)

[Sunflower Optimism]

"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one
trifling exception, is composed of others."
-Andrew J. Holmes

Interesting thoughts, Simon. My son will be given his rank of Eagle in Boy Scouts this Friday - a ceremony I have attended for many other young men. There is always a story told at the end, about boys who are sent up a mountain and are asked to bring back whatever plant they find. Most go and soon come back from the lower levels with various leaves. One boy however, comes back with nothing - he had climbed to the top of the mountain and there was nothing growing there. But he came back telling the story of what he saw - about the next mountain in the distance and about the sea that stretched beyond.

Maybe we need to learn to be like the Eagle - to look beyond our own immediate area and realize the grandness and possibilities of the world.

[Sally]

Hi Simon
Just a thought(?) but in your earlier message about glimpses of the old self crumbling....you mentioned a certain lack of progress you feel. What is it that feels that? It is the mind which loves to get in on the act telling us we are not progressing on the Spiritual path. Seeing that is so freeing.....it becomes quite funny when we see that the mind is telling us we are not present enough!
ie. the mind is telling us we are identifying with our thoughts. Watching the mind do what it has always done is very enlightening when you really notice it.
Seeing the humour there is what keeps the light in enlightenment.....and I love your title on this blog..."Spirituality with a sense of humour"
Eckhart suggests when we really watch the mind it becomes like watching the antics of a little child and we can smile at that.
Sally

[Secret Simon]

Amit - Great to hear from you again. I had a very similar experience to you when reading Neale Donald Walsch's 'Conversations With God Book One'. At last, I thought, literally fighting back tears, here was the truth I'd been searching for! Finally, here were some ideas about God which *made sense*! I really must do a post about that book. If anyone would like to know more about unity, go out and buy it now!

Sunflower - Many congratulations to your son! And maybe that distant mountain and sea are also a part of ourselves - as well all the limitless space beyond.

Sally - Thank you - I've been keeping this in mind today. When we realize how ridiculous it is to keep polishing our statue all the time, it can be extraordinarily liberating. I had a day a few months ago when for five minutes or so, I really *knew* this truth deep down. And I couldn't stop laughing! It seemed to me that I'd finally discovered what the Buddha found so amusing.

[Sally]

The conversations with God series are wonderful, I was in Findhorn for a Neale Donald Walsch workshop weekend in August which I really found life changing.
I have dvds of the weekend which I can lend you Simon when I see you. He talks so much sense and keeps the humour up throughout.
May we all stop "polishing our statues" as 2007 progresses......after all nobody is looking at them....all too busy polishing their own!!

[Secret Simon]

Sounds interesting, Sally!
Sunflower - For some reason I overlooked the quote from Andrew J Holmes when I responded to you before. It got me thinking that this idea of us all being one can be a bit of a shock to the system. For a Christian, I suppose it's heresy, is it? But as I've said, I'm much more interested in the similarities between the various faiths than the differences between them, and I'm certainly not expecting all my readers to *believe* everything I say. Perhaps, however, it might be interesting to *imagine* that we are all one, just as an exercise. And then consider the words of Jesus: "Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself". Is it now easier or harder to obey that commandment?

[Bridgituerf]

Awesom cant wait to share with the world my exictment on new Harry Potter movie! Recomended highly!

[cardiogirl]

I agree, it's hard getting in touch with your feelings, and too bad the beacon on top of the head didn't come to fruition, evolutionarily speaking. It would make things so much easier.

[Liara Covert]

Hi Secret Simon.
Great post. Some people believe humans only really wake up when they are perceived dead by people in this world. Do you limit your sense of awakening to your human existence?

[Simon]

Thanks Liara - glad you liked the post. Yes, although I believe that 'waking up' is certainly possible *before* death, I suspect that there are more enlightened 'dead' people than there are live ones! From what I've heard the 'waking up' often seems to happen spontaneously shortly before death. My mother was once such instance. She was in great pain in the final days of her life but also blissful in a way which was wonderful to behold. I really believe we can live our lives in a similar state of being.