THE ESSENCE OF LIFE

There is an essence that is the very energy of life. It exists in all things and at every level of existence. It is the energy of creation which gives life and from which life is made. This essence and heart of the universal intelligence is expressed in many ways. In the book of Genesis, creation is described as the "spirit of God" moving upon the face of the waters. In the East, the universal sound of om is understood to be the "divine breath" of the universe. Other expressions of this universal intelligence include chi, prana, god, goddess, great spirit, and divine life. We will refer to this essence as the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit exists in all forms. It penetrates every level of existence: material, biological and spiritual. It ranges from unconscious biological functioning in our bodies, to creative and inspiring ideas and visions in our minds, to feelings of love and openness in our hearts, to the experience of connection and oneness in our spirits. It is the divine energy of matter and spirit. It animates our individual intelligence. The Holy Spirit is the great intelligence that animates all things. The Holy Spirit thus forms a bridge of connection between matter and spirit, between us and the divine.

The Holy Spirit functions within us both consciously and unconsciously. It serves us even if we do not realize it. We do not need to be conscious to realize its effects. We draw and absorb this divine energy from food, air, water, sunlight, and the earth. As we become aware of how this energy functions, we begin to experience it as a living reality and a true, inner experience. As the Holy Spirit enters our bodies, it radiates, vibrates, and charges all of our systems: lymphatic, circulatory, respiratory, excretory, digestive, endocrine, and so on. It charges and vitalizes our glands, organs, muscles, nerves, feelings and thoughts. It fuels our instincts, intellects, and spirits.

The Holy Spirit is available at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances to everyone equally. When you consciously realize the presence of the Holy Spirit, you have the key for connecting with and expressing your divine nature. You can begin to know the divine nature of your energy body by becoming sensitive and aware of its presence as it communicates with you about your body. You can begin to know the divine nature of your emotional body by becoming sensitive and aware of its ability to register intuitive promptings as it communicates with you, and you can begin to know the divine nature of your intellectual body by unifying the fragmented forces of conflicting inner thoughts. You can transcend your unconsciousness and begin a conscious relationship with the divine.

As your spiritual practices deepen, your ability to resonate with the Holy Spirit expands. This resonance softens and relaxes the places in you that are hard and unyielding; it liberates your fears and brings you into the flows of love.

When we are connected to the Holy Spirit, it acts upon us and creates a state of healing. We resonate with love as our isolation from the Holy Spirit dissolves and our fractured spirits move into unification. Simultaneously and gracefully, we are brought into perfect relationship with ourselves and the universe.

* * *

Within the ability to sustain, channel, emanate or hold one's inner light in absolute consciousness, exists an implicit, radical faith that allows one to risk everything.

This risk cannot be calculated by degrees of riskiness. One cannot say, "I'll risk just so much now, and maybe a little bit more next time."

Everything means everything; it is literally all or nothing.

TRUSTING LOVE

The Golden Center

The quest of the spiritual pilgrim is endless. The quest is a longing that draws one forth into the unknown, into the mystery. We cannot grasp or clearly define what it is we are being drawn toward. We only know we are going from what is known into the unknown. Many try to create controllable boundaries within which to live. Habits and patterns which are passed down become comfortable points of reference for life. Within those boundaries, we have an illusion of safety and comfort.

The seeker steps outside the box and expands the boundaries of what is comfortable and safe. All attempts to understand, know, and control are released. The seeker is thereby liberated from what is already known and returned to the pure nature of innocence. This opens the possibility for the mystery to be revealed, much like a surprise.

Being in this state of innocence is to trust love. In trusting love, we shed the masks, performances, and controls. We expose the uncovered face, and we live from our essential nature and invite wonder into our lives. This is the spiritual journey. The spiritual nature refuses certainty, dogma, and social programs. Trusting love is a radical severance from preferences, addictions, and obsessions. It is a persevering willingness to enter and re-enter the unknown. It is a commitment to listening to the voice of one's soul anew each day.

What are we trusting when we trust love? What is this love? This love is a willingness to open ourselves to a higher will; it is an absolute acceptance that we are not the initiator. We give up the ego and walk to the water so we may immerse ourselves in the stream of consciousness, and love, and merge with the infinite mystery.

We hold this inner posture in every situation we meet. Outwardly, the actions of our lives' look like everybody else's. Inwardly, we let life be revealed. We rise to every occasion with acceptance and grace, knowing that the divine is working through us. We live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. Even the simplest act is performed differently by one who is free.

Trusting love is round, intuitive, receptive, and flowing. It moves without obstruction, open to the unknown asking to be shown, and being endlessly surprised at each revelation. It is simple, clear and honest. Trusting love means that each day you begin anew, exactly where you are. There is nothing special to do, there are no requirements to fulfill, nor do you have to go to any special place. The inner posture of acceptance and trust creates an ability to meet life exactly as it is.

Liberation lies within each one of us. When you trust love, you can observe and respond both to the mundane rhythms of life as well as to the extraordinary mystery of the eternal quest.

Trusting love is symbolized by the beauty of the perpetually blooming rose. Open to receive the light, it maintains a state of perfect openness. ... turn your gaze to the beautiful garden which blossoms under the radiance of light. There is the Rose in which the Divine word became flesh: here are the roses whose perfume guides you in the right ways. There is a golden center in each rose. The golden center reminds us to still the mind, breathe in beauty, accept everything, and to trust the love in which we have immersed ourselves. The golden center calls us into the mystery.

Expanding the Boundaries of Love

Expanding the boundaries of your consciousness is the same as expanding the boundaries of love. When you begin to trust love, you will see through the eyes of spirit that you are self-creating, and what is real for you is created by you. If you are willing to release that which no longer serves you, then you can begin to extend the boundaries of your love.

Drop the tape or the pattern that says, I'm not good enough for love, or That's too risky. I will get hurt. I will get used. I will not have enough. I will be rejected. I will lose control. It's not going to work out well, or It's going to end badly.

How do we get through these places? We get rejected, we get used, and we lose control. We are found out to be the culprits we are. Trust means that you have to be willing to be exposed for who you really are and to take a risk and get nothing in return. You must be willing to face lack and rejection along with the reality that things never do work out the way you planned anyway.

What happens when you do that? You find freedom when you release your attachment to your fear of things not working out, of being used, of not having enough, or of being rejected. Expose yourself, show everything that is there, let it all be seen, and then there is nothing to hide. If you do not risk everything, you will never be able to expand the boundaries of love.

You have to be willing to be a fool for love. You have to be willing to change your position because your position is your ego. You have to be willing to be seen and be used. What is it to be used? It is to give with no expectation of anything in return. The problem is selfishness, egocentricity and self-absorption. You are so busy trying to protect yourself or perpetrating harm upon others to satisfy your needs that you drain your life force and end up in pain instead of in love. All of your life force is lost in positioning yourself against something that you created in the first place. Then you are exhausted, rejected, tired, it did not work out, and you were right.

How could you be anything but right? You created the whole scene, and every encounter you create will bring the same result over and over again. You will be self-justified, and you will win the scene every time because you created it. You will be abandoned and rejected because you believe it to be true. If you believe it to be so, how could it be other than what you created?

You have convinced yourself in every scene, every relationship and every situation, that you are right. You will say, See, I was right to hold on because I'm not getting anything out of this anyway. I've only been hurt. Your self-absorption brings you to a dead end that you keep circling and projecting onto everyone and everything.

Stop the projection and release the tape. Put in a new tape that says, I trust love. Be willing to take a risk. Do you know what will happen when you take a risk? You will face rejection and abandonment, and you will also face getting used. But none of this can touch you if your heart stays open and in love, and if your heart trusts love. You will see those things for what they are, which is fear. It will not destroy you.

Instead, you will grow compassion and you will no longer take everything personally. You will understand that someone is playing a role for you so you can extend the boundaries of your love. Or, you will see that you can have compassion for those who are limited in their capacity to open their own hearts, and you will not judge them when they make mistakes.

When you fix your eyes on the divine, you will be fed from the infinite fount. There is always enough, it always works out, you get used, and you are blessed because of it. You accept everything. Rejection no longer exists, and all of the imperfections you have been hiding from for so long, can be accepted and healed. Spirit is benign, loving, mysterious and wonderful. You can trust love, and you can trust your heart to know love. Be willing to let your heart break. Be willing to give something and get nothing in return. It may not look like you are getting anything in return in a specific and deliberate way, but everything you give comes back tenfold. The infinite energy of the universe can cycle back to you in your fearlessness. You will find out that love has nothing to do with attachment, jealously, control or ownership, and your heart will be in love at all times.

We find liberation only by taking a risk, by taking whatever it is at the core and flipping it over. If you are greedy, then give. If you are fearful of rejection, stop rejecting and accept. If you are afraid of exposure, expose. Release your fear and be that which you want.

How do I go after what is in my heart and not be attached?

When the hurt and rejection come, let them come. Let them wash through you like a wave. Feel everything completely and then let the wave recede.

But can't I shut out the pain so that I do not have to be hurt?

That hurts even more because you not only shut out the possibility for being hurt, but you also shut out the possibility for love. If you take a risk and trust love, even if it does not turn out the way you wanted, you have still given yourself the opportunity to love. Drop all your concepts around how you think it should turn out, and then there is nothing to be hurt.

When other people do not respect or acknowledge what I have to offer, it does not feel good.

Other people do not have to respect or acknowledge what you have to offer. You have to respect what you have to offer. You have to acknowledge yourself. Clear out the space, go inside of yourself, and learn how to give yourself what you need with Spirit. Other people are just bringing up your feelings of lack of self-worth; they cannot give to you what you cannot give to yourself.

Why do I feel so much emotion in those situations?

Just feel the emotion. Let go of feeling that you should get something, and just be the pure emotion. When you do not ask why, you are trusting love. The emotion will come in like a wave and wash out like a wave. Stand in your core. Learn to let those places wash in and wash out. When you do that, you will stand in love. You will not put up any barriers. As soon as you do not like something, the edges of your ego are blocking love.

Feel your pain and disappointment, but let it be pure so that it burns in your tears, and then it is dissolved. Even though you feel rejected, go forth anyway because you trust love. When you know it is not personal, you do not have to isolate yourself from people anymore. When your heart stays open, you will have more capacity to accept and love people exactly as they are. Release your judgments and trust love.

Spirit has its way with us, and you either surrender to it or you do not. When Spirit puts you on hold, stop. When you are pushed forward, go forward. When something is taken away, let it go. When something is given, receive it.

Trusting love means dropping your position; it means not fighting. Surrender is an active choice. It does not just happen; we have to choose it in the moment it is presented. Surrender means there is no separation, isolation, or positioning. It is accepting what is; it is staying round and whole. It is releasing judgment and trusting love. If you fight against the ego, it will gain strength. Trust the place in your heart that tells you that this is a loving and benign universe that is abundant and supportive, and then take all of the risks to prove it to yourself. Do that by trusting love.

Love Asks You to Expand Again

You use the word risk all the time. That used to throw me because I always thought of something drastic. Now I know that taking a risk might mean speaking the truth or saying "No" Taking a risk doesn't have to mean leaving my marriage to go to India to find my guru.

That is right. Your guidance might not give you permission to do or say something, and your mind might wrestle with "What will they think?" or "I don't want to offend anybody." The risk is to follow the guidance, to trust love. There is a risk in it because you are used to doing things a certain way according to your pattern, and you do not want to offend anybody.

But there are also times when our lives feel especially risky, like when we go through a divorce or lose a job. "Will I be safe, will I be taken care of? Will I be loved?"

Years ago I had a relationship that lasted for ten years. One day my partner drove out of the driveway and never came back. He left me with all the debt, mortgages and loans, none of which I had when I met him. There was everything in the world for me to fight against. I realized I was either going to become bitter and end up in a court battle over the next two or three years, or I was going to let it go and let myself be taken care of by the universe and be loved. I chose expanding my boundaries to receive more love. So I said, I'm not going to fight. I'll take it all.

I did not fight, and I took it all. I took on the mortgage and all the debt by myself. I did all the things that God gave me to do: running the Sanctuary, doing healing work, conducting yoga teacher trainings, and all of the other things I was given to do. Not only did I take care of everything that needed to be taken care of financially, but my life flowed and was supported in a beautiful new sequence which I could never have imagined. Those were the temple years. I was living from temple to temple, with Shakmah at The New Seed Sanctuary and with Gurudev, first in Pennsylvania and then in Florida. That was my life, and it was absolutely, extraordinarily beautiful.

The thing about love is that it asks you to expand all the time. And when you expand, you have to break through the wall within you that wants to keep you in one place. The wall says, this is your comfort zone, this is what you feel good believing, these are the people you like to be with, and these are the things you like doing. These things over here? No.