Confronting the truth
I'd just like to say a huge "Thank you" for the wonderful responses To our article The Endorphin Effect. It seems we'd all like a little more joy and love in our lives. The article also raised many great questions such as "Isn't just focusing on the lightness in life also a doctrine? Doesn't it create an identity? Does it not then separate us from the sense of completeness inside that can handle everything?" I think its important to be clear; we're not advising people avoid the truth. We're recommending an approach which transcends the darkness by finding the lightness through it. Here's what we mean by that...

The "Seer" of all things
From our perspective there is only one being throughout the Universe and we are each a unique expression of that. We are the One and an expression of the One AT THE SAME TIME. This is in line with many spiritual philosophies around the world.

But contemplate the truth in this for a moment. If it is true, that would mean that there is an experience through all things which we can each 'touch'. It would mean that we are that experience. Contemplate deeper...if we are everything then there is nothing that we are not and therefore within us there must be the sense of nothing and everything. Its an experienceless experience. Its what the great contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber calls "one taste". We are not the ocean nor the wave but the "wetness of the water". This is what we refer to at Openhand as the "Seer".

We are that Seer. Except when we identify with something that is going on around us and in our lives; when we need something to go a particular way. When we expect a certain outcome or are afraid of another. We planned a relaxing weekend away for example because we think we needed a rest but it turns out to be anything but that. We were saving money for our holidays but the car broke down and now we can no longer afford it. When we are unable to accept the natural flow of the Universe - the way things are right now - then we create separation from the Universe and we step out of the Seer. That's when things really start to go 'wrong' (in terms of not being aligned with the Universe and therefore lacking harmony within).

The Manifestation Myth
Think about being the "One" for a moment at the point before the Universe exploded into being. What is there to know except 'who' and 'what' you are? What else can there be but to experience that? And if this is the case, then there can be only one purpose in life - to experience ourselves as who and what we are. In other words to know our completeness in every circumstance.

It's important therefore not to deny the wave we're on - even if its heading towards the rocks. To deny our wave creates identity. I've seen this happening around me in spiritual circles. There seems to be a view to focus only on the "good news" in life - to avoid speaking of the Credit Crunch for example because of the fear that might create. There's a hope that we might manifest a "better" reality.

But to some the Credit Crunch is a good thing - it might be what stops runaway global warming for example. Here's also then the perfection that explodes the myth in the manifestation bubble. Some people might want to be more wealthy in material terms but that wealth might create 'poverty' elsewhere - we are all one, therefore in absolute truth, we can't avoid the 'elsewhere'.

To put it simply, I might call in my 'parking angels' to manifest a parking space, but what if my endeavours denied a parking space to a little old lady who was supposed to get it instead? What happens if she then went on to crash her car and die? At the place where I and the lady are one, I will create the karma (through her) that I have to revisit anyway. That's why its important to accept the truth the way it really is and then to deal with that.

See the truth as it really is
So the credit crunch is real. Ask anyone whose just lost their job, their savings or their house. That's an unavoidable reality. So what we're advising is to see the truth as it really is. Not deny anything but be open to all things. If we notice resistance inside to any situation, this is where we are identified and in those moments seek not to avoid the resistance but ask why it is arising. In this way, we have the chance to release our attachment and with it the internal resistence.

When we've released any identification with those things that we might fear, then raising endorphins to block negative energy in our system becomes most effective. Or at least the effects are most powerful when we've first confronted our fear. If we sweep the fear under the proverbial carpet, there is always something hiding there in the background which absorbs our consciousness - so there is less to apply to the endorphin effect.

Nothingman
It reminds me of a situation I found myself in shortly after I woke up. As I followed the natural flow of the Universe by making only those choices of my soul (at whatever the cost to my personality), very quickly everything got stripped away from me; my family, my house, the business that I had painstakingly built up, my treasured Mercedes Benz and at times even my sanity.

I remember one morning after my marriage had broken down leaving the family house and getting into my car for the last time. I was drawn to play a CD by Pearl Jam called "Vitalogy" - a gift that I had never fully played because it hadn't been my cup of tea. But rather than playing it from the beginning, the number 5 came suddenly into my consciousness. So I played it - it's a song called "Nothingman." The lyrics and music reduced to tears - as if they'd been specifically chosen by a Benevolent Omnipresence whose purpose was to be completely at one with me, share my pain and to say "its okay, I'm with you"...

"Once divided...nothing left to subtract...
Some words when spoken...cant be taken back...
Walks on his own...with thoughts he cant help thinking...
Futures above...but in the past he's slow and sinking...
Caught a bolt a lightning...cursed the day he let it go...

Nothing left...nothing left
Isnt it something?
Nothing left."

We've all had those experiences haven't we? The one's that connect with us deep inside, help us peel away the veils of illusion and uplift the soul to new heights. It is such adherence to truth that helps us accept life the way it really is, to align with our soul and in this way unleash the most powerfully positive effect on our state of being.

Reality acceptance
So in its truest sense, the endorphin effect is not about reality avoidance but reality acceptance. It's a technique for maintaining balance and internal harmony when the outside world might stimulate negativity.

It is then that we can follow our true path with centredness and balance embracing both the "ups" and "downs" finding our completeness through all things. It is then the we discover our true purpose in life where even the downs can be celebrated as the miraculous learning tools they are.

So let denial be a river in Egypt but not a part of your consciousness!

In love and light

Chris
PS - if you missed the free "Liquid Gold" meditation, you can play or download it here...
play here

Openhand Foundation
unfolding into light
http://www.openhandweb.org