What's Right Now?

Here is a piece I recently wrote. If you read it, I'd love to hear what you think of it. Thank you, John.

 

 

What’s Right Now?

 

It just occurred to me what's been wrong with our human species of consciousness on earth and how to heal it. As a species we have all been living in a mind-world/dream body of separation. We, most fundamentally, see our selves as separate from our own essence and consequently we perceive ourselves as separate from each other, from the environment on this planet, this universe, and from the living source and substance of all being what ever we choose to call that and however we've been accustomed or conditioned to relate to that mystery.

 

Much more interesting, however, IMO is where we each, individually, find the solution to our personal version of the self-world delusion of this profound misunderstanding. And, even more remarkable, is the fact that the solution in which all our problems dissolve and then can be resolved into a world that works for all of us is intrinsic to each and every one of us simply because we are a living sub-system of the One which is the living source and substance of all being.

 

IMO, the simplest way to discover this, is to simply notice what remains here in our own experience, when we stop thinking for a moment. There is always a clear openness and a knowing quality of consciousness that simply acknowledges itself and every thought sensation, emotion or circumstance that seems to be appearing within it. We will each discover that our only impulse, from this place, is to do whatever would be most beneficial for ourselves and each other.

 

Once we have notice this natural intelligence which is the living awareness in which all of our experience of life occurs, the simplest way, IMO, to recover this until it becomes the frame-less reference point from which all of our life is lived is to simply, pay attention to it. Practically, this means, relax into to noticing this open intelligence; which we find right here each time we can manage to extract our attention toward the labels, descriptions and meanings and simply notice the ever-presence of the living awareness of the moment in which displays these labels and descriptions and meanings for our sensations, emotions, thoughts and situations/relations of the moment. In some sense it is like leaning back, out of the data and relaxing back and down into this fundamental openness around everything - which is our awareness of being.

 

Usually, in the beginning, we can only notice this in an uncontrived way for the briefest instant, before the next thought or the next point of view of "me-in-relation-to-my-world" arises, captures the gift of our attention and we are back to living within our personal, separate identification in our world of polarized dualities. This is why the wisest advice, IMHO, we can heed has been expressed in the sentence: "Short moments of open intelligence, repeated many times, become continuously obvious in all moments, situations and circumstances."

 

I say this because, when we rest the native intelligence of here and now, IMO, we are re-booting the original operating system of our consciousness, re-establishing within ourselves, for the moment, our innate connectivity within the Universal intelligence of the One that is the living source and substance of all being. And, I say this because, for the duration of each, uncontrived, short moment of open intelligence, we have disconnected the attention of our mind from "its" habitual, conditioned frame of reference within our collective world of duality.

 

Thus, we are re-patterning the neural nets which co-relate with how we have constructed our deluded, disconnected mind-world/dream-body. In this way, with each short moment of open intelligence we are repatterning our nervous system, our minds, our bodies, our psyches and our relationships.

 

What makes this difficult is the fact that we have all been conditioned into our current version of who we are in separation. We all have this set of ideas, emotions and sensations that constitute how we identify ourselves as separate from one another, from the earth and from life and, we, rather strongly, believe that that's both who we are and what our world is. But the fact is – whatever belief system, ideology or point of view we happen to be subscribing to - if it looks like we are separate and it feels disconnected - in that moment we are living in a delusional, tiny fragment of our actual being. I say this because, I know from the experience of my friends who have been at this a little longer than I have, that when we have chosen enough short moments of open intelligence, when the frequency and duration of our relaxing as the open intelligence of now has crossed a certain threshold we begin to feel free regardless of what is arising in each moment; in each relating, we see the wide-open and all-inclusive expanse of our being and we spontaneously express in ways which are harmonizing and mutually enhancing. These descriptions of a different kind of experience of our self-in-our-world more closely approximates a fuller embodiment of the one we are.

 

At this point on Earth our human consciousness has been divided and polarized by all kinds of labels and descriptions of ourselves and each other. Each of us has subscribed to a system of beliefs of who we are as individuals and groups and who "he," and "she," and "they" are and what that means to "me" and "us." These ideologies have us at each other’s throats rather than each other’s service. This is what I am referring to as our individual and collective mind-world/dream-body in separation. It is the data of our experience of disconnectedness.

 

When we look at what constitutes our data, we can notice two "kinds" of data: actual and fabricated.

 

Our fabricated data of separation consists of our familiar distinctions, labels, descriptions, interpretations and beliefs. All of these were formed through the interaction of our natural intelligence in relating the to the mind-world/dream-body of those who were here, around us since we arrived on the planet as an individuated materialization of human consciousness. They are fabricated in the sense that they are pre-conceived and, they are fabricated in the sense that have been constructed in relation to and as our interpretation of the world of separation in which we find ourselves. They constitute how we experience our self, others and our world and how we perceive we are perceived in this deluded world of polarized duality and separation.

 

Our intrinsic, actual data are the direct, immediate experiencing of the actual now moment. These are the sensations of the energies of whatever happens to be appearing just now in our open awareness.

 

To the degree that we are invested in the data we've construed as ourselves in the world at the moment, that is what we experience as real and true. As we happen to choose a short moment of open intelligence in the midst of our data, we simply notice and rely upon the always connected, ever-present open intelligence in which this particular patterning of our data has re-configured in our nervous-system, psyche and relatings. If nothing else, this momentary shift in focus give us (and those around us) a moment of relief from the constraints and limitations of that familiar, constricted mis-identification. As our short moment releases us from the labels and descriptions in our story, we can regard everything freshly from the newly re-acknowedged, open intelligence of our being.

 

The truth is that the more we acknowledge the open intelligence of being within ourselves, the more we spontaneously, genuinely act in ways that are kind and beneficial to ourselves and each other. Acknowledging and normaling the data, we become active co-creators of mutual benefit because we know not to get caught up in the data. The trick is to accept everything that appears as it is and to relax into our open intelligence with it as it is. This is a new way and it is radically different from our usual strategies of indulging, avoiding or replacing our data as methods of dealing.

 

I indulge, avoid and replace our data because I've been believing that will help my sense of well being or my situation. I am beginning to notice that it never does help, really. The only thing that helps in any and every moment is re-recognizing the actual nature of my heart/mind as I return attention to the openness of the actual, present moment. Beyond the immediate glimpse of peace and openness that I experience is the inclusive, warm and kindly way I regard every thing and every one. I always enjoy what gets expressed in these moments; whereas, when I have been indulging, avoiding or replacing, things get pretty sticky pretty fast.

 

Once we recognize that it is true: we have been living in a fabricated mind-world/dream-body that is not a clear reflection of reality, then we can choose, consciously, to align ourselves, to re-pattern our nervous system, mind, psyche and relating. This usually takes a while and it is easiest and fastest if we have a lot of support from others who have been choosing this, and have been doing so for a while. This also builds the new form of community among us humans which, IMO, we all long for - a world which actually works for the benefit of all of us. What else do we want in our heart of hearts? (It is here that the Balanced View organization (BalancedView.org), with its skillful trainings, live and online meetings, daily, participatory calls, always available trainers, free downloadable books & videos, stands head and shoulders above any spiritually or transformational-ly focused community I know of.)

 

Because we are choosing to rely on our open intelligence, our clear, open connection with the whole, actual now moment, because of the nature of this, what emerges from these moments is inclusive and mutually enhancing. How good can it get?