hi trin
thanks for the powerful post. It seems to me to come down once again to being absolutley honest with ourselves about our motivations for the actions we take - are they truly 'self-less' - in terms of coming from a place beyond ego/identity, arising authentically and unfettered? or is there a hidden agenda or efforting there?

i also resonate with your suggestions of why people may struggle to live this way and may find it easier to create their own seemingly 'safe' worlds - as you mentioned the fear of complete surrender, of letting go of the reigns of the horse in order to flow with the Universe, not knowing what's 'next' but allowing what is meant to arise to do so unfettered, can be quite a challenging one! It seems to me that as we progress on the path we become incrementally more and more able to let go into this flow, until ultimatley(?) we are doing it all the time and are fully surrendered into our True Selves flowing freely from one moment to the next!
"Be yourself - everybody else is taken!" - I really like that! no one else can tell you how to walk your own unique path, because no one else is you! therefore, while others may provide guidance and pointers, the only way to live in truth is to follow what you feel inside to be true - honestly and authentically.

with love

Ben

Thank you Ben :angel:

Be yourself - everybody else is taken I think is something Oscar Wilde said. The thought has me beaming from head to toe too!

hi trin and ben
thanks for your reminders of remaining in the flow and allowing the moment to unfold rather than efforting to produce or manifest what you apparently want to happen - a sure way of eventual disappointment and tightness!
however i do get confused sometimes. surely one of our divine gifts is that we are 'creators' - and i feel in my heart that to create a better world for ourselves and future generations, a world based on loving kindness, understanding, unity, compassion for all beings - do we not need an 'idea' of this to allow it to unfold? the personal choices i make i know affects people and animals all over the world - but if i did not have an idea or image of how the world could work in harmony - would i know what the best choice to make would be? although on the one hand i want to let go of attachment to the outcome - yet i want to work towards a better world, in whatever way i can - so whilst i try to be open to the outcome, i still want to do my best to work towards a world of harmony if you see what i mean! i feel like i contradict myself by feeling like this, yet i don't know how else i can live.

i guess that the key is that if i am being true and allowing my soul to direct me, then living harmoniously would be the natural outcome anyway, but the details of what to do or how to live are not necessary to imagine in advance - as the action in the moment will be the right action.

i hope you can understand what i'm getting at, maybe i'm a bit stuck in my confusion at the moment.

love and gratitude to you all
elly

Hallo Elly,

I'm so glad you wrote the above post because it really resonated with me. I agree that we are co-creators of our reality and when we feel a powerful pull of the soul to act against injustice or whatever it is, I believe we should respond. Surely that's Activism and it can be powerful.

However, for me there is a knife edge width line that's extremely difficult to walk where you still take the action you feel pulled to take, without starting to internalise the suffering the injured party might be feeling, so getting too invested in a positive outcome.

And this is where I sometimes go wrong. My particular trigger is cruelty or injustice to those who can't defend themselves - often animals or children. However, I now realise, if I start to internalise the suffering of those I am trying to help, I am playing into the hands of opposing consciousness because it can feed off those feelings. So what I am trying to do now is still react to the pull "to do something" but not allow myself to get drawn into the drama.

It's easier said than done!

with love
Veronica

i guess that the key is that if i am being true and allowing my soul to direct me, then living harmoniously would be the natural outcome anyway, but the details of what to do or how to live are not necessary to imagine in advance - as the action in the moment will be the right action.

Hi Elly,

The way I see it, from a soul perspective a choice or creation is simply a release of joy.
Pay attention to the key moments in your life and you will notice the joys are unique. You can't really see what is unique about them...but you feel the uniqueness.

When you release the joy...it is usually aligned with something you are giving your attention to...a flower for example. There is a connection with the joy released and you seeing the flower.

The joy released fills your heart... and it becomes a choice chosen. Follow your heart and you experience more of that joy .....
In harmony with following your heart and hearing your joy you may or may not see more of those flowers at a latter time giving you a deeper experience of your joy.

From the minds perspective, there is really no choice except listening to that which you have chosen.
For a mind that images it has a choice, there are many many questions that need answering, what do I need, what is good and bad, what is best for me, how can I get it, how does he get it, will I benefit from it if I got it.
All those questions is the mind trying to bring you joy....a joy you already have. The more you give focus to your mind trying to bring you joy the more you are not listening to the joy in your heart. Quite absurd really! You might end up owning a flower shop and having lots of flowers in your home...and yet be sad.

Rest assured, all that has been released when you were younger and even before you incarnated here on this planet are all there in your heart.....even those joys you have when you think of future generations.
It is simply a matter of you listening to all you have chosen.

Kristian

Blissful Urchin wrote: "...surely one of our divine gifts is that we are 'creators' - and i feel in my heart that to create a better world for ourselves and future generations, a world based on loving kindness, understanding, unity, compassion for all beings - do we not need an 'idea' of this to allow it to unfold?

You have such a beautiful and warm hearted energy Elly. Thank you for sharing.

Energy may arise from the soul as an expression of compassion for all sentient beings, unity etc. At this stage compassion and love aren't ideas, they are simply an arising energy from the source. Here we haven't created anything, we simply experience a feeling or a knowing within.

At this point one of two things might then happen:

1. The mind steps in and owns these soulful impulses for itself. It then creates 'ideas' about how it can use them to create the world it sees. The mind then creates a personality identified with the soulful impulses that it has now owned (i.e. 'I am a compassionate person'). The world is created by a filter. Because the soul will be in the background (rather than the centre of experience there is usually and underlying dissatisfaction about life and purpose. Unless are actions are centred in the soul, feeling any kind of lasting peace within becomes unlikely.

or conversely...

2. Compassion has been realised at the level of the soul. The mind does not own the realisation. Instead our beingness emanates from the centre of the soul. The universe is within us and is externalised as a result of allowing the soul to guide and express as it arises in each moment. It is as if an enormous beacon of compassion is sent out because the impulse is authentic. Deep peace within is experienced no matter what circumstances are happening as purpose has been realised.

When we see that the world outside ourselves is created by how we are being within it is not unusual for the ego to seize the reigns with vengeance and seek to 'create' a world according to what it wants (and yes even perceivably 'good' things).

There comes a point in our awakening journey where everything changes. We no longer hold an idea in our mind that all things are connected, about unity and oneness or what loving kindness is. Something else happens...

We have a direct 'enlightening' experience of unity consciousness where by all we know is 'unity' and the essence that flows through all things. We experience what compassion truly is. We know that all things are connected and what effects one effects us all. We are driven by the soul to act. Love and compassionate action are the result. It is the destiny of the soul.

There is a difference between holding an idea about compassion and allowing it to arise as a natural expression of our beingness.

In my experience the two differences are worlds apart.

I sense that you have an authentic arising of compassion. In my view it looks like it may be getting a little caught up in the mind. In order to allow your impulse to express itself fully you have to peel away and shed your layers and let the real you shine in all its glory.

Nice post Kristian I enjoyed the flower shop perspective.

Thank you! Now I understand what's been happening.

Yes great post Kristian

Dear Elly, let me ask you a question, would you rather think about a flower or feel the beauty of it? Would you rather think about the incense or smell it? Would you rather think about the fruit or taste it?

If we're in the mind envisioning what we want (more appropriately what we THINK we want) how then can we be in the heart feeling it?

There is a place that is so magical, so beautiful, so inspiring, so expansive, so connected and so divine, that is beyond the capacity of a human mind to imagine - that is the new world to which we're ascending.

The only way to the new world is to remove all the internal blockages to it. Holding images of what we think it is simply just gets in the way.

I remember when I awoke during a car crash, the expansiveness I felt cannot be imagined - it would be impossible. I can't even imagine it my mind now and yet I experienced it!

I felt the Christ Consciousness flowing through my heart. It was so powerful, it just melted me into love. At some point following the crash, a thought popped into my mind... how can I be more like the Christ? I imagined all ways I could do that and put them into action every moment of the day, day in day out.

After a few months I caught myself. I'd closed down with internal efforting. The expansiveness had contracted back inside the "small I" again. So I just let go, accepted myself as I am, and allowed truth to flow outwards.

I've found that when I express exactly what I'm feeling, the good, the bad AND the ugly, then I get to see, in the external mirror, the effects of who I'm being. If my inner tightness is expressing outside of myself and I allow it to flow, then three things happen...

1. I get a clear picture of myself and what I'm being
2. I'm able to make a choice about what not longer serves me
3. I'm able to actually put my attention in the inner tightness AS I'M FEELING IT and let it go

Then what happens is the old restriction melts away. However, if I was holding an idea about what I should be, then in effect, I write over this consciousness within me and mask it over - I can't feel it and if I can't feel it, I can't process it.

Our world is created by what we're being within. The key is always inside our feelings. Let feelings express and unfold and then we're offered the chance to change.

This is what I mean an authentic choice. And the more we make it, the more we realise it's no choice at all. It is destiny and it simply happens of its own accord.

My dear soul, NOTHING BUT NOTHING can prevent your beautiful, immaculate destiny from unfolding except....yourself. And so all you have to do is get yourself out of the way!

Blissful unfoldings

Chris

thank you veronica, kristian, trinity and chris and all for your amazing insights which each stirred me inside, i can feel the truth of your words flowing in me! (i often get these feelings of joy and emotion when i read openhand journals and posts, never sure whether a welling of tears or smiles are going to come, frequently both!).

i am going to continue to meditate on this subject as i know the more i feel the truth the more it becomes part of me. i have deeply realised especially recently how society is so geared up to creating a 'picturebook reality' and the underlying reasons for this become more and more clear. Having given up my job in the spring i find a constant pressure, albeit not intentionally, of friends and family wanting to know what my 'plans' are, whether i've found a job, what i'm going to do next. Perhaps I also perpetuate this - after all they just reflect what I have been conditioned to expect of myself.

Similarly, these 'future ideals' which I know has kept me in chains for a long time, has yet again become a current subject. I have happily become pregnant in the last months, which though unplanned has brought my partner and I alot of joy and excitement, a big change for both of us. I've noticed lots of things come up already, from all the scans and tests they offer to predict the future health of the baby, potentially allowing fear and worry to move in, to deep urges to move out of the city as soon as possible, to be in a place where the air and water is clean and I can grow veggies (!) to my hearts content, noticing tightness arising when I don't have a clear idea of what to do next. So I just need to keep letting go of all the worries, fears, tightness and perceived need to make plans, instead allow a space for whatever wants to arise...and in fact the moments where I do this I feel filled with a love and gratitude for life and all the things I encounter on my journey. Indeed the whistling starlings and autumn colours bring me joy even in the middle of the city...

Thank you Openhand for your continued guidance, wisdom, support and love...

warm blessings to all
Elly xx