The source of our Need

December 31, 2006 at 7:53 pm (Blogging, Duality, I Change The World, Thought Vs. Insight, Who Am I)
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Throughout the last 2 months of blogging I have often referred to myself as “God”…I do this a few reasons, mostly because it’s the closest “label” I can find without limiting myself. I would like to make something perfectly clear though…”God” is just a label. It’s an idea, a concept, and a word…it does not and will never truly describe the “nothing/everything” that I truly am. So why do I use the word? Well, I like the shock value (mostly the shock to my own beliefs and limitations) and if I didn’t use words there wouldn’t be anything here for you to read. Now that I’ve explained that, let’s talk about what we’re all trying to accomplish here…what are we trying to figure out or let go of?

In my last post I discussed Christmas and how we’ve completely bastardized the original idea behind it by using this “holiday” as an excuse to justify our desires and wants. One Guy left an interesting comment to that post and so I’ve decided to use this one as a response. He expressed a curiousity into a “deeper need” behind all of our needs and desires…why do we need/want all these things? Well, here’s my attempt at an answer.

Often I find myself being “gentle” to those around me…I don’t mean compassionate (often being gentle and being compassionate are two very different things). What I mean is that I tend to “coddle” those around me…I keep things to myself for the sake of not upsetting them. When someone complains about their ailments or problems I’ll often just listen instead of saying “You’re choosing to perceive things this way…stop it or stop complaining about it”. Whether or not I should be “to the point” is a topic for another discussion…for the purpose of this discussion though I am going to be straightforward. If you don’t like my answer, that’s okay…but that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. (it just means you don’t like the possibility that it might be true)

So here’s the question….why do we need or want anything?

Obviously the entire basis for the belief that we need something is the belief that we don’t already have everything we need…this makes sense, right? right. Now, you are the same “nothing/everything” that I am…you are “God” and therefore the creator of your reality and experience. Most people will automatically dismiss me here…they’ll ignore me, argue with me (which never works out well), or simply stop talking to me. Why do they (I) do this…because what I’m talking about is ultimate responsibility. Think about it…I am responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in my life…good or bad, painful or pleasing. Have you ever noticed that people are more than happy to take credit for the good things in their life but they’ll pass the bad things off to “God”? Admitting that you ARE God kinda takes that option away doesn’t it?

So why do we need/want anything? Distraction. We need a lot of things….we need to believe we’re seperate from others, we need to think of the future and the past, we need to have “things” to survive, we need to judge, we need to have power, we need to have control, we need to believe we’re good or bad…hell, we even NEED to label ourselves. Why all these needs? Because it’s distracts us from ourselves…all of these things are meant to bring our focus outside of ourselves.

I have often said that the best thing anyone could do is sit in a dark room alone for as long as possible…why? Because there is nowhere to escape to. You are stuck with yourself at this point and therefore you HAVE to face the things you desperately want to avoid. The fact is that we don’t NEED any of these things…we just choose to believe we do. In believing we “need” something we are, once again, choosing to believe we don’t have everything already. And what do we have? We have ourself (and as “God” that IS everything). Do you see the logic here? Everything we’re doing…all the beliefs and ideas, concepts and escapes, time or labels…all of it is meant to be an escape. If we’re not “thinking” or escaping we’re left Here and Now with Myself…we’re left with ultimate responsibility for how we perceive ourself (reality). This is the core reason we choose to believe we need things…

As long as we “need” something we can pass off responsibility and choice.

Put simply, the thought process goes something like this…

If I “need” this thing to be complete then anything I choose or do will be flawed because I am incomplete…it isn’t my fault, it’s “Gods” fault for not giving me this thing I THAT CHOOSE TO BELIEVE I NEED.

Needing nothing and taking responsibility are the same thing…after all, it is only when you take responsibility for your own Choice that you can Choose to stop needing.
The twisted part about this is that “Choice” can only happen in the Here and Now…I have to stop “needing” to make the choice and I have to choose to stop needing all at the same time.

This is not a battle, this is not an attempt to control…this is what is already happening at the deepest core of myself…I am already “God”, I just have to let go and be myself…the choice and responsibility takes care of itself. It sounds so hard, doesn’t it…it’s not. In fact, your reality has been telling you the secret throughout your life. Through every hard time, every frustration, and every hardship you keep hearing the same message over and over…Relax. Just let go.

A Forgetful God

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Why do we Want?

December 29, 2006 at 7:01 am (Blogging, I Change The World, Thought Vs. Insight)
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It’s been a while since I’ve made any posts so I thought now would be a good time. To be honest, I’ve been completely absorbed in the whole Christmas thing…not “the gifts” but rather the people and how we all seem to react to this so-called “Time of Giving”. Now that it’s all over, I figured I’d write a bit about what I’ve noticed.

It seems to me that Christmas is no longer what it was originally intended to be. The very purpose of “Christmas” was to honor Christ…of course Santa came into the picture at some point but even the idea of Santa was meant to honor what Christ stood for…unconditional love and giving to all. So what happened? Suddenly everyone is frantically pushing and shoving their way through the stores, stressing out over gifts and money, and even arguing more than usual with the people they love. Somehow this behavior doesn’t seem to fit in with the whole “Christmas Spirit” idea.

The funny part about all this stress is that very little thought goes into the actual “gifts” anymore…more thought is spent on the value of the gifts and how they might “impress” the recipient. Truly, people seem to focus more on their own need to be recognized and “thanked” than the spirit of giving for the simple joy of giving. My favorite example is when the person actually TELLS YOU what the gift cost them…did you want to know? Does it matter? If anything, it takes away from our appreciation of the actual object and limits it to a monetary value.

I think the main problem is that we all go into this time of “giving” with specific ideas of what we want…I don’t just mean “presents”, I mean feelings and emotions as well. When it comes right down to it, the only reason we truly want anything is because we believe it will make us happier…but it doesn’t work that way. Simply by wanting something we are convincing ourselves that we don’t have enough right now…we want money, toys, appreciation, recognition, etc…all for the simple purpose of fulfilling our need to be happy. And what happens when you get these things you thought would make you happy? Nothing…your still left with this feeling that something is missing.

It seems that the very practice of “wanting” does nothing more than convince us we are incomplete without that thing. This belief is the root of our unhappiness, not the lack of that “thing”. So what happens when we stop wanting? How do we stop wanting? Stop believing you need anything to make you happy…start believing you have everything you need right now. (What do I have? Myself)

Would this simple belief change anything about Christmas? I think so. We would find appreciation again, we would have no reason to stress or argue because we’re not trying to “get” anything…in the end, we would find happiness even with a lump of coal (at least you have a way to keep warm if you need it). Giving for the sake of giving can only happen when we don’t desire a thank you…when we don’t desire a boost to our self-esteem. In the end, you have to stop wanting to want things…you have to believe you have everything already.

“When you want nothing…you will have everything”
It seems like a twisted little joke, but only when we stop “wanting things” to make us happy do we actually find happiness. When we stop focusing on what we don’t have, we realize what we DO have and we find appreciation (and thus, joy).

Happy Holidays,

A Forgetful God

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In “The Void”

December 7, 2006 at 6:15 am (Duality, I Change The World, Thought Vs. Insight, Who Am I)
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Most of my regular readers have probably noticed that I have not been making any entries to my blog in the last few “days”. This is not for a lack of insights or things to say…in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Over the last little while I’ve been sitting in “The Void”. The label here really doesn’t mean anything except a state of “being”. In this state I find myself at the center of a whirlwind…a vortex of thoughts, perceptions, and other creations of the mind. I am not actively focussing on any of these things…I am simply aware of them without feeling the need to concentrate on them. This might sound a little “anti-productive” to someone who believes that effort and focus are the foundations of learning…but I think it’s quite the opposite.

Because all of these perceptions and thoughts exist only in “my mind” I really have no need to keep track of them. Logically, if all perceptions are my creation then I already know the finest details of each and every one…focussing on them simply takes me into them. By admitting that these perceptions are my creation I am, inevitably, taking responsibility for them and accepting their existence…once I’ve accepted this I no longer have the need to focus on the individual perceptions because I no longer feel I need to “learn from them”.

An example…as I drift in “the void” an infinite amount of perceptions “flow by me”. Perhaps I see an image that I immediately associate with the perception of “regret”…what should I do? I have 2 choices…I can either focus on this perception and thus create “reasons to regret” as well as the actual feeling of “regret” or I can accept the perception as one possibility in an infinite amount of others and let it go. In focussing on the regret I start making it “real”…meaning that I am choosing to make this perception my reality. This is instantaneous…quite literally I will start convincing myself that my “reasons” are the basis of my regret…but that is part of the perception I’ve chosen. The reasons have nothing to do with the perception…they are a part of the perception. The perception of regret itself comes from my choice to focus on it. So why do I do it? Simple, I think I need to learn something from the experience.

But how long is this lesson exactly? To put it plainly, until I choose to admit that I’ve learned. The most common mistake that we make in these perceptions is believing that it is a problem…any problem must have a solution and so I focus on the perception even more in my ridiculous attempt to “fix” a problem that I am creating.
(Remember, the simplicity of this is what is confusing). There is no actual problem…it only exists in my mind…but there is an attachment to the problem. When it comes down to it, the only reason I continue to focus on a perception is because I truly believe that I must….but this is a choice.

So, in focussing on my “reasons” for regret I am immediately tempted to “fix” the problem…usually this involves something I must do to “change myself” or “my life”. Of course this temptation is redundant because I am always changing anyway…any attempt to change myself is, in fact, an attempt to stop natural change and assert control over my idea of who I am.

But, if I let go of the perception altogether…if I realize that there is no problem, there is only the perception of “problems”…then I have learned the lesson. Every perception, in the end, is trying to remind me of something that I already know…that the perception itself is my creation and therefore my choice.

It’s like standing in a room with an infinite amount of doors…you can enter any door and spend an eternity exploring the room (perception), but you are inevitably going to remember that you came from a place where there were other doors. You came from a place where you could choose or not choose.

This is “the void”…it is that place where I can choose to enter a door or simply enjoy looking at them. Of course, because every room is created by me, I already know what lies inside them…it is only the belief that I don’t know that tempts me to enter them.

When I choose to admit that I already know the lessons, I will have no more need to seek the answers. I can simply Be.

Choose,

A Forgetful God

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How does God speak? (Continued)

December 2, 2006 at 10:12 am (Duality, I Change The World, Religion, Thought Vs. Insight, Who Am I)
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Earlier in the month I was visiting one my “suggested” blogs and mentioned the movie “What the Bleep do we Know?” in one of my comments. The author of the site, Secret Simon, had already seen the movie however…and actually knew much more detail about it than I do. If you have seen the movie are are going to see the movie, I would definitely recommend reading his post. (The Secret of Life – What the Bleep do We know?)

I have to say that I honestly didn’t know any of the above information about the movie…thank you though because I’ve always kind of wondered who was speaking, so this definitely answered my questions.

I think the reason I mentioned the movie in the first place is also the same reason I recommend certain music and the occasional book. As you know, I very much enjoy exploring the perception of Unity…in this perception nobody really exists other than me (and my reality)…knowing this, I tend ignore names and histories (if all that exists is the moment, history does not apply anyway) and focus instead in my minds interpretation of what I am seeing (hearing/reading) at the time…why is this particular “thing” in my reality and this time?

If I can focus on just “the moment” then everything has to tie directly to that moment…the mind and reality are connected simultaneously, so all things are a reflection of my current “frame of mind” or perception. (the moment is indescribably small, to the point of not even existing in what we call “time”, so this frame of mind is changing very very quickly, reality changes with it…thus the fluidity of “change” that we experience)

An example of this is walking down the street while talking to yourself (internally or verbally does not matter)…often, if you are not distracting yourself, you find that you are “working things out”. Your mind is flowing through thoughts and you, the only observer of these thoughts, have to choose between acceptance or resistance…you can judge it, or accept it exists and continue to let it flow.

Suddenly, as if on cue, you will see an image, a word, possibly something that triggers a memory (it could be anywhere…advertising, a scrap of paper on the ground, a scrap of conversation you catch while passing) and you realize that this “thing” directly ties to the thoughts that were just flowing through your mind. (only when you’re not looking for it)

The history or origin of the sign is not important (who made it or why) but the “connection” is…your reality is trying to answer you (teach you/remind you that you already know).

I think that is why I enjoyed the movie…for the messages that “my mind” heard rather than the messages those speakers intended to give me. In Unity your reality is a personal thing, it is the one thing that is always with you…your best friend, your parent, and your worst enemy (depending on your perception). It speaks to us in many ways, but only if we look at it as “one thing”…otherwise it seems like an infinite amount of messages that have nothing to do with each other.

In my posting “How does does God speak?” I was trying to convey this exact message…I thank you for the opportunity to explore it “just a little bit more”. I guess that is why “Simon” (acting as “my reality”) wrote what we wrote when he wrote it…

Thanks for the lesson.

A Forgetful God

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