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Opening the Heart
You can’t force the heart to open. It can only open by itself,
like a flower. Your heart may feel restricted; even someone with a great
deal of presence and openness can still have a heart that feels restricted.
So you bring that presence, that awareness that is open, to the heart that
isn’t. That’s all. You approach what’s limited with what’s vast, and
open-heartedness happens by itself. That’s really what finishes the
cycle of karma.
The Space of Listening
Wanting other people to change is actually a very interesting realm
of resistance. We think it’s about them, but it’s really a trip we lay
on ourselves. When you eventually learn how not to lay a trip on yourself,
then pretty soon you’re not laying a trip on anybody else either. That
doesn’t mean you can’t offer something or be supportive — in fact you may then
become more helpful than before. You become the space of awareness and listening — that’s
more helpful, though the results may not be what you expect!
So be the awareness, and then the listening will be very deep. Everyone
needs that kind of listening; in suffering we’re craving that kind of listening,
wanting that reconnection. And that listening can actually provide that. It can
even support someone in dying. The greatest support you can give to somebody in
dying is to be complete openness.
Satsang is really the space of listening, and as each so-called individual
deepens into listening, you can feel the awareness deepen and expand, and
letting go happens all by itself.
Our Fundamental Nature is Happiness
Trying to find happiness is not possible. Why? Because
we cannot find what we fundamentally are. So how do we discover
and in a sense become one with what we fundamentally are?
By learning to feel directly "what is" — that
is, what's being experienced in the mind, body and heart —
free of judgment, comparison and analysis. Learning to feel
directly could also be described as "being one with"
"what is".
This quality of acceptance or compassion is the essence of
our shared Heart of Oneness and simultaneously leads to and
already is the profound vastness of our true and everlasting
Happiness.
Being Listening
It's very tricky to communicate about the Truth, because what
is it that you do in listening or in this moment, reading?
How do you make meaning of what you are reading right now?
We don't even know we're creating belief structures—or
strengthening belief structures or attitudes. How is it possible
to listen and not, in a sense, create protection or safety?
Can you listen without understanding and have that be all
right? Is that actually possible? To just be listening.
In other words: not to listen with the goal of having to understand
the concepts and turn them into an intellectual process. We're
conditioned to do that - it’s simply instinctual, animal
functioning. So I invite you to listen as being listening.
Can you just listen without having to organize what you're
hearing? Can you listen and not have to understand one word?
Can you relax in not knowing? Because that is the
key to becoming one with the Mystery. The essence of mystery
is not knowing. Knowing is a form of protection.
It's safe.
Not knowing has no protection — it’s the essence
of Freedom.
Spiritual Unfoldment is Like a Love
Affair
There's the initial enthusiasm, excitement and hope for the
future. You've had a glimpse or taste of the truth and you
feel "I've finally found my way — I'm on the right
track now!"
But what you don't realize is that the experience of truth
is actually a big fat mirror — and when it begins to
reflect our "dark side" or our core unconscious
defense patterns then we're in trouble! The patina of romance
has worn off and we come face to face with our resistance.
If we're new to the "path" we blame our pain on:
our partner, our parents, our teacher, the teaching, politicians,
etc. We don't yet see that our resistance is actually the
door to freedom.
If we are one of the lucky few who "don't have a choice"
then we muster the courage required to leap into the flame
of truth and are then transformed into the Light and Love
of Freedom.
The Student—Teacher Relationship
The teacher embodies the truth. We naturally “give”
or emanate that which we embody. If we embody peace, then
we in a sense give or “transmit” peace. If we
embody joy, we transmit joy. If we embody love, then we give
love. There is no volition in the giving or the transmission.
Like the fragrance of a rose, it simply emanates. If your
nose is clean you can smell the flower.
The transmission of truth from teacher to student requires
the readiness of the student. Readiness means open, available,
free of conclusions or judgments. The experience of transmission,
or satsang, is actually the realization that we are not separate.
There is no one who takes themselves to be a teacher and no
one who takes themselves to be a student. It is then, and
only then, that true teaching or transmission takes place.
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