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Now, now! 4

Other articles in this series

Now, now! 1

Now, now! 2

Now, now! 3

Now, now! 5

By Antraeus Voltage

“If you live with full awareness you are living a love-affair with life.” - Almine.

Whatever you do, try to do it consciously: with consciousness, as Eloheim relates (and as Osho has repeatedly recommended). It is then more powerful and effective, more alive. Feeling is then known too. You are aware of other layers of the moment, of yourself and your surroundings. Even if you are not a saint, you have more choice; your view is less narrow. You have a wider range of options.

“…the more you become alert, the more the unconscious becomes conscious. That is the only way. If you remain more alert, if you walk with awareness, if you talk, listen, with awareness, if you eat, take your bath, with awareness, not like a robot, not walking in sleep and doing things, or doing things and thinking about other things – that too is a sort of sleep – no, if consciously, mindfully, you do your thing, chunks of the unconscious are being transformed into consciousness, and by and by, more and more of your iceberg comes out of the water of darkness, out of the ocean.” - Osho.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoché, of the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, mentions our inner neuroses suddenly springing up on us, which sounds like the pain-body Tolle talks about and which he says remains dormant and then jumps into action when triggered by something (or because it seeks attention from those who can be induced to play its game). Pema Chodron who worked closely with Trungpa from the Seventies until his death in 1987, speaks of a state of ‘heightened neurosis’ which allows us to see where we are ‘hookable.’ It enables us to take an honest and direct look at ‘where we get stuck’ in order to remove that blind spot (“where you get provoked”). Otherwise, she says, it’s “always going to be there to drag you down...So, if you really want liberation, you really want freedom, you need people around you who are going to be provoking you to show you where it is that you still have work to do...To test how much you can endure.” (From a talk at the Omega Institute in New York).

What interests me is self-preservation, survival in the face of adversity and enduring the tests that life tends to throw my way...or to put an end to them. Or, perhaps I am coping and learning while I wait for destiny to turn a corner and head off in a different direction (towards the sunshine!). I both resent all these difficult experiences and yet I am beginning to actually feel grateful for them as opportunities to grow, to wake myself up, to rise above them instead of resisting them which I have learned is self-defeating (not that I seek to invite further strife, mind!). Awareness of one’s thoughts and feelings attunes us to the greater portion of our existence than just being aware of our body and surroundings, to what we are doing in the external world, although the immediate present is also significant. The mistake during the period in which I kept these journals was to focus my intent and to be conscious in the here and now with a dynamic but limited range of awareness that did not include my own feelings. Whilst being helpful in terms of survival, it was therefore yet another tool for suppression which has cost me dear even though it also helped me through this difficult period as well. Yes, it all sprang up and pounced on me, pulled me down to the ground and immobilised me. What I need to do now to learn is to embrace all feeling, for only then, I believe, can negative emotions be transformed by conscious awareness into Light, or positive feelings.

“He don’t need no one
He’s the rising sun
He won’t shed no tears
Got no time to break down here”

- New Order (from the song ‘Working Overtime,’ 2005, written by Written by Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Peter Hook & Phil Cunningham).

Inspiration is sweeter than reality. Still, the potential is there, the reality awaiting birth…

“When we are present in the moment, our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical aspects converge together into a single consciousness…and when we align our awareness with our innate wisdom and combine it with our deepest love, we are powerful beyond measure.” – Harold W. Becker of The Love Foundation (YouTube video, ‘The Divine in 2009, 31 December 2008).

“I am here simply to make you alert and aware. That is: to be herenow - with all the insecurity that life is; with all the uncertainty that life is; with all the danger that life is...Life goes on moving with a thousand and one uncertainties. That's its freedom. Don't call it insecurity. I can understand why mind calls freedom insecurity...Freedom creates fear. People talk about freedom but they are afraid. And a man is not yet a man if he is afraid of freedom. I give you freedom - I don't give you security. I give you understanding - I don't give you knowledge. Knowledge will make you certain...Life is uncertain - its very nature is uncertain. And an intelligent man always remains uncertain. This very readiness to remain in uncertainty is courage. This very readiness to be in uncertainty is trust. An intelligent person is one who remains alert whatsoever the situation - and responds to it with his whole heart. Not that he knows what is going to happen; not that he knows that 'do this' and 'that will happen'. Life is not a science; it is not a cause and effect chain...If you understand, insecurity is an intrinsic part of life - and good that it is so, because it makes life a freedom, it makes life a continuous surprise. One never knows what is going to happen. It keeps you continuously in wonder. Don't call it uncertainty - call it wonder. Don't call it insecurity - call it freedom.” - Osho.

“Saint Germain consistantly speaks of the need to come into a space of Being rather than Doing ~ not that Doing doesn’t happen, but rather that there is a gentle unfoldment of Life rather than some force being applied to Life in order to *make* something happen. Within this we come home to who we Really are, the Beauty of our flowering, and the Peace of the Eternal Moment. It is by direct experience of what we feel that we receive the answers that we need and can clear ourselves from our illusions.

'Be One with the Breath; Be One with the Moment unfolding.'" - Alexander Clearheart (5 May 2010, www.thelovethatiam.com)

“On some nights, he has nowhere to sleep, on others, he suffers from insomnia. 'That's just how it is,' thinks the warrior. 'I was the one who chose to walk this path.' In these words lies all his power: he chose the path along which he is walking and so has no complaints...

A warrior of light knows that he has much to be grateful for. He was helped in his struggle by the angels; celestial forces placed each thing in its place, thus allowing him to give of his best...The warrior of light meditates. He sits in a quiet place in his tent and surrenders himself to the divine light...While he meditates, the warrior is not himself, but a spark from the Soul of the World...He has learned that the reason the tiger does not fear the hyena is because he is aware of his own strength. He tries to establish what he can truly rely on. And he always checks that he carries three things with him: faith, hope and love. If these three things are there, he does not hesitate to go forward.” (From Manual of the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho, 1997. English translation by Margaret Jull Costa, 2002, HarperCollins, UK, 2002).

“Trungpa Rinpoche’s great saying was, ‘Turn toward everything.’ There’s something very wholesome about turning toward things completely and openly. It is sharp and unconditional and feels genuine in a way that our ordinary projections and ways of handling things never do.” - Rigdzin Shikpo (Never Turn Away: The Buddhist Path Beyond Hope and Fear, 2007).

"Spirituality is a particular term which actually means a dealing with intuition. In the theistic tradition there is a notion of clinging onto a word. A certain act is regarded as displeasing to a divine principles. A certain act is regarded as pleasing for the divine whatever. In the tradition of non-theism, however, it is very direct that the case history are not particularly important. What is actually important is here and now. Now is definitely now. We try to experience what is available there, on the spot. There is no point in thinking that a past did exist that we could have now. This is now. This very moment. Nothing mystical, just now, very simple, straight forward. And from that nowness, however, arises a sense of intelligence always that you are constantly interacting with reality one by one. Spot by spot. Constantly. We actually experience fantastic precision, always. But we are threatened by the now so we jump to the past or the future...That is a problem. That is not trusting in the nowness properly that what is the actual experience now possesses a lot of powerful things. It is so powerful that we can’t face it. Therefore, we have to borrow from the past and invite the future all the time. And maybe that’s why we seek religion. Maybe that’s why we march in the street. Maybe that’s why we complain to society. Maybe that’s why we vote for the presidents. It is quite ironical. Very funny indeed." - Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

Seth, the entity channelled by the late Jane Roberts, “said that he only one rule for changing one’s life. That was: The point of power is in the present. When we concentrate on the present, we experience our aliveness, the strength of the energy which flows through us. We learn to recognise that energy as power, the raw material with which we create ourselves and our worlds.” (www.rainbowcrystal.com/crystal/crystalpamphlet.html)

“What is the energy of 11? Yes, new beginnings. Yet, are you not always having a new beginning when you are always in the moment? Yet, when you are dancing in mind there are auspicious moments; this is so. Yet, when you are in the present, you are auspiciousness itself: breathing, moving, expressing. This does not discount cycles of the Moon, celebrations, birthdays, anniversaries. It includes them.” – St. Germain (channelled through Ashamarae McNamara, YouTube video, ‘St. Germain: Be in the moment,’ 2 July 2008, www.awakeningfromwithin.com).

St. Germain also tells us, “Vibration has no time and no space. Vibration is only ever now….Then the universal awakening for this realm is the awakening beyond time to a different expression of space. Not one that you know it…So, raising your frequency with the intent of evolving beyond time and to a new space awareness where your family awaits you eagerly, joyfully. And there are so many that are awaiting you: Pleiadians, Arcturians, Sirians, angelic beings, we of the Ascended Master realm. It is a joyous time that we have been working towards with you, assisting you. Yet, a part of this awakening is - time to raise your vibration.” (channelled through Ashamarae McNamara, YouTube video, ‘Raising the frequency 2: Vibration is ever Now,’ posted by messagesfromwithin, 5 October 2008, www.awakeningfromwithin.com).

‘Don’t Be Alert’ by Alan Watts

(Excerpt from a seminar included on ‘Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives,’ Disc 10 – ‘The World As Self’ [Part 2], 2004, www.soundstrue.com).

“Krishnamurti says to people, ‘Now look, there is nothing you can do to be liberated because all of your efforts in the direction of liberation are phony. They are based on your desire to boost and continue your ego and that will never lead to liberation. All you can do,’ he says, ‘is to be aware of yourself as you are without judgement. See what is.’ but, then, if you can do that, you have no further problem. But, if you try to do it you’re in the same mess all over again.

Gurdjief played the same game, in a different way. He said the most important thing is self-remembering. Always, at every moment, be aware of what you’re doing. Watch yourself, constantly, and never, never be absent-minded. So, all day, when, you know, you pick up the piece of paper, you realise, ‘I am picking up this piece of paper...and so on. And, I know I’m doing it this way so I’m not asleep. Ordinary people pick up the piece of paper, and go...In this way, we’re really picking up the piece of paper! So, all these people are doing this, you know - watching all the time. Now, where do they land up?

I’ve told this story millions of times, really. Excuse me, but it’s very important. When they teach you in Japanese Zen how to use a sword. The first thing the teacher says to the student is, ‘Now, if you’re going to be a good soldier, you’ve got to be alert constantly because you never know where the attack’s going to come from. Now, you know what happens when you try to be on the alert. You think about being alert and then you’re a hopeless prey to the enemy because you’re not alert. You’re thinking about being alert. You must be simply awake and relaxed. And then all your nerve ends are working. And whenever the attack comes from, you’re ready.

They likened this to a barrel of water. The water is just sitting there in the barrel. But the minute you make a hole in the barrel, the water immediately is ready to come out of that hole. So, in the same way, the mind, when it is in a proper state, is ready to respond in any direction from which the attack may come. So this man is no longer alert in the sense of taut and anxious: [whispers] ‘Which way is it going to come?’...You see? He’s just sitting there-like a cat sits there. And, the minute anything happens - [meeow] - it’s right there, because it didn’t have to overcome any set in a direction opposite from which the attack comes. If you’re set for the attack to come from there and it comes from here, you have to pull back from there and go there, but that’s too late. So you sit in the middle, and you don’t expect the attack from any particular direction.

So, in the same way, all this applies to yoga. You can be watchful. You can be watchful. You can be concentrated. You can be alert. But all that will ever teach you is what not to do. How not to use the mind. Because it will get you into deeper and deeper and deeper binds. You have to let it happen just like you have to let yourself go to sleep. You can’t try to go to sleep. You have to let yourself digest your food. You can’t try to digest it. And, so, in the same way, you have to let yourself wake up, become liberated.

And, when you find out, you see, there isn’t any way of forcing it, that, for most people is the only way of getting them to stop forcing it. Because they won’t believe, when you tell them in the first instance, ‘You’ve got to do this without forcing it.’ They’ll say, ‘Well, it won’t work. It won’t happen because I’m very unevolved. I’m just an ordinary human being. I’m just poor little me. And, if I don’t force it, nothing will happen. Like people who think that if they don’t struggle and strain they won’t have a bowel movement or whatever it is. They think they’ve got to do that work in order to make it happen.

In other words, all that is based on lack of faith, not trusting life. And, to get people to trust life who don’t trust it, you have to trick them. They won’t jump into the water so you have to throw them in. And, if they are very unwilling to be thrown in, they’re going to take diving lessons, you see, in which they’re going to read books about diving, they’re going to do all the preliminary exercises for diving and they’re going to stand on the edge of the diving board and enquire whether this is the right posture till somebody comes up the side and kicks them in the butt [laughing] and they’re in the water.”

“For some their natural frequency is so rapid that what you experience as a lifetime is known in what you would call a moment. (Can you imagine? Ha!). Since all lives are lived simultaneously, then any separation experienced is but a psychological one. Your ‘future’ personalities are as real as your ‘past’ ones.  After a while, this will no longer concern you and you will live increasingly ‘in the flow’ concentrated on the activity that is at each point, the perfect expression of your unique aspect blending and harmonising with All-That-Is. These messages, your inner sense of things, the mingling of reality and experience, these messages from one system to another occur in various ways continually, emerging in your experience in one guise or another - as inspiration of many kinds. All are doorways. The door to the soul is open, and it leads to all the dimensions of experience. The soul stands both within and without the fabric of life as you know it. It is your point of power, peace, clarity and connection. I invite you to let go and be SOUL; be who you are.” – Archangel Michael (channelled through Meredith Murphy, 5 April, 2010, 'Alterations of Release and Giving Over Authority to the Soul,' www.expectwonderful.com).

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations." - Anaїs Nin.

“All time is simultaneous. Just as the past is everpresent, so is the future. Just as you can meditatively go back in time to take care of the child within, so you have a Future Self who can take care of you. You have as many potential futures as you can imagine. Some are more likely than others. One is the best – the optimum future for you. You can call upon that Future Self. You can allow that Future Self to help you become more of who you are and more of who you can be. Part of the synergy of enthusiasm can be you and your Higher Self. That is what you are reaching for and seeking. Allow these parts of you – the Free Child, the Curious Adolescent, the Nurturing Parent and the Future Self –to work together. Draw upon their energy, their love. When you start looking at your present and your future through their collective eyes, you will know enthusiasm and the power of aliveness that it brings.” – Lazaris (channelled through Jach Purcell, The Sacred Journey. You and Your Higher Self, NPN Publishing, Florida, US, 1987, p.135-136, www.lazaris.com).

“When we are present in each moment, the past gently rolls up behind us and the future slowly unravels before us.” - Rev Richard Levy.

“…I always AM. I AM in the past. I AM in the future. I AM in the present. And All is Now. I AM Now, thus I AM in All: all time, all space, because all time, all space, is only within me. I am here because there is only here and I fill it. I am Now because there is only Now and I fill it because II am here. And that is all there is. Isness is my fundamental nature. I AM. That is a fact. You know that is a fact. This is the certainty of knowing…am now and

            Allow yourself to feel the absolute, unquestionable certainty that you exist. Say, ‘I AM.’ There is absolute knowing in this statement. It is to this degree that all knowing must be experienced for it to have the same effect in manifesting in your life. so, all the things you say you know, all the things you think you know, all the things you would like to know are so must have the same quality, the same state of being of knowingness as what you are experiencing right now with the understanding, the simple awareness and recognition that you exist. It all comes down to that. I AM. That degree of unquestionability is what is required to be in the state of knowingness. But it’s easy to create that by simply always going to the first principle: I exist. I AM. There is no question. I AM. In that moment, and in this moment, you are in a state of knowing. Feel that certainty. Feel how that degree of absolute certainty feels. Because that is what you want to bring to bear to all situations in your life. Whether there is empirical knowledge or understanding about what’s going on in your life in terms of the details is not the issue. It is the degree of knowingness that your life is unfolding to your benefit as an expression of your true nature is all that is required for absolute knowingness and for the quality of knowingness to begin to infuse itself into every single act and every single moment and every single thought and feeling and belief in your consciousness. You want to bring knowingness you bear in all aspects of your life. and even when and even if you experience the idea of fear and you experience the idea of doubt, go back at that moment to this moment, to a state of absolute knowingness. I AM. There is no question in that state. There is no doubt in that state here, now. Rekindle that state. Realign that state within you. I AM. Two words are all that is required to bring you to that state. Because, when you realise that you exist, unquestionably, that is what you want to draw from and apply to every other situation and circumstance in your life. Take a deep breath. And feel ‘I AM’…it’s obvious! (And, he adds, take a deep breath and say, ‘I AM’)…

            Now…this state is all knowingness is.

            Faith can bring you there as a springboard. But knowingness, knowingness, shall we say, is the great equaliser. It will supersede every other state immediately when you allow yourself to simply remember I AM. And that you recognise in that state there is no question about that, all other questions in that moment will dissolve. You will go back to zero, back to now, back to here. And then, from there, look at whatever situation you were experiencing before. From this state look at the situation. You will begin to see it differently. It will change your perspective and you will see the illusion you were in. States of knowingness allow you to perceive more clearly any state of illusion you may have been under. So, any time you feel fear, doubt, confused, stressed, struggling, striving, at odds, sad, remember I AM. And, from that state, without question, look at the circumstance form an attached and detached point of view and understand the illusion that was there, that is no longer there…

            Come from there when you observe anything else you have done. Come from the power of the illusion and look at the illusion of power you were under before. And see it for the illusion it was.” – Bashar (excerpts from a guided meditation channelled through Darryl Anka, www.bashar.org).

“Naturally occurring timeless awareness - utterly lucid
awakened mind -
is something marvellous and superb, primordially and
spontaneously present.
It is the treasury from which comes the universe of appearances
and possibilities, whether of samsara or nirvana.
Homage to that unwavering state, free of elaboration.”

-          Longchenpa (‘Knower of the Vast Space,’ Tibetan Buddhist Master, 1308 – 1363).

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