Receiver to Creator, Separate to One

Having delved deeply into self discovery, self emptying and awakening there is an apparent shift of perception within the unchanging consciousness that we are.  What is this shift of perception?  We could say from perceiving ‘myself’ as a separate receiver of life, a victim of circumstances, an object cut off from the source, waiting for or wanting to reach peace or oneness ‘out there’ – into the true position of realising that we are truly in harmony with the one infinite creator.  Not equal to, but at one with the divine flow of the universe.  Not cut off from the ‘true vine’ as Jesus describes but remaining connected to it.  Plugged into the source but empty of ‘myself’, ie the false self.  Through this self emptying it seems we are a channel for grace peace and the Love of God.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  John 15: 5-8 

In this sense it can be interpreted that Jesus refers to himself ‘me’ as the consciousness that we truly are, the sacredness of Life itself, the universal truth, one with the divine source of the universe, the one infinite creator.  One with the Christ Light.

‘You are the light of the world‘  as Jesus says

This is not ideas only, it is a subtle but powerful shift of attention from ‘I me’ to being in harmony with the ‘I am’ or beingness.  But of course this is not for the ego to claim as some grand accomplishment.  Oh no – that would be arrogance and ignorance once again.  The fall from grace.

SO this shift apparently ‘into’ this greater freedom, one with the infinite creator is not for the egoic mind –  it is from the egoic mind and it is in resonance with the natural mind that is our true nature.

Religion often seems to build a sense conversely of an external God that we are speaking to and asking things of, even though it is generally thought of in Christianity that God is both ‘immanent and transcendent’.  The language still seems to call God from on high somewhere to come and be amongst us.  However, is God not permeating all of creation?  Is God not always already here and now in the present moment infinitely?  Is the Divine source of all life everywhere and in everything, although invisible and unknown and unknowable?

Some of us, feeling pulled somehow by the power of grace begin to seek earnestly for ‘awakening’, for truth, for peace, for unity.  This is natural in a way and good.  The seeker is activated somehow!  But often the finding is the cessation of the searching and the realisation that we already are what we are seeking.  Richard Rohr writes beautifully about this in a recent daily mediation here.  (highly recommended Richard’s daily mediations)

We can be literally be spending years as a ‘spiritual seeker’ pursuing the goal of finding peace when all of the time – we ARE this.  God IS.  Everything flows and is created from the source and so if we are seeking to return to the source it is as if we are trying to find what we already are.  We can’t achieve it as a separate self!

As St Francis of Assisi said ‘What you are looking for is what is looking’

So – call off the search.  You are already home.  You cannot not be one with God – in harmony with God.  The divine is the root and the source of all creation

And more than that….

Perhaps we are, and always have been, conceiving, creating and placing what we perceive and believe as ‘reality’ right in front of us all along, rather than actually receiving it?  Take a moment to sink into that.  May be you have never been an actual ‘receiver’ as a separate self.  What do I mean but that?  I mean that in reality boundaries are only apparent, or only apparently real on the bodily level.  Science shows that matter is not as solid as it appears!  Atoms are mostly space.  In harmony with this one infinite creator we actually do have the free will to create, not from the ego mind, but from our most true, deeper, natural mind that flows in alignment with spirit, with ‘higher Self’.  Following a deeper flow of intuition or guidance from within (many don’t trust this quiet inner guidance system as the ego’s mechanism and habit to control can appear too loud and overriding)  Having said this for many of us there have been times in our lives when we know we are somehow pulled or drawn or called by a voice that we know is good and life giving and benevolent and deep.

The idea that ‘you’ are a separate self at the mercy of life’s storms and tidal waves is a false idea and it creates a tremendous sense of victimhood, weakness, frustration and disappointment.  This idea that I am a solid object or person ‘here’ – looking out at the world ‘over there’ on the other side of our physical eyes, robs us of the authentic power that we have  – rooted in God.  The idea that the separate self is an object apart from the world seems to obscure or eclipse the reality and true freedom of conscious presence that is our core beingness.  This idea can limit severely our sense of freedom and joy in creating what is in alignment with truth and Life, flowing from the source, our own True Self.

Jesus once said  ‘what do you want?’ John 1:38

What does your deepest heart call out for?  What is it you feel called  to manifest or create?  What do you truly pray to discover?  Is it, by any chance, the unconditional immense Love that you already are?

Is it your own natural imperishable True Self?