Is LIGHT separate from the SUN? No! Light is an extension of the sun, just as you and I are an extension of the ONE Creator, God, Infinite. To argue this is to say that you created yourself, i.e., that the Sun’s Light created itself. It is a denial of Source. The Sun’s rays can deny the Sun all it wants… and yet this denial is only possible thanks to the Sun itself! No Sun, no Sun’s rays to argue naught.
-Michael Jeffreys
I decided, for the first time in quite a while, to look at the webpages of CNN, TMZ, and Yahoo again to see if they hit me any differently these days. (I canceled my cable TV about 4 years ago and stopped going to internet news/gossip websites about 4 months ago.) What hit me the most? The sheer artificiality of it all. More than, “Oh, look at all these ‘problems’ they are manufacturing and hanging out there for the ‘fish’ to bite on,” but rather, just the sheer emptiness of it all.
Like fast-food, all the content just felt filled with empty calories and contained nothing substantial, nothing ‘good for you,’ nothing healing, nothing was very deep. All surface accusations and ‘he said, she said.’ First they paint the problem, and then they ask you your opinion of it and you are sucked right in. And before you can leave, another video automatically starts to keep you feeding on the empty calories.
And what we forget is the entire ‘experience’ takes place between our ears. And here’s the kicker: by focusing on what we are NOT, we miss what we ALREADY effortlessly and timelessly are and have always been: pure Consciousness. That which is aware of all forms, but is itself formless.
-Michael Jeffreys
In a way, when we believe a thought can hurt us, we are claiming that changeless, formless, eternal Awareness can be hurt, injured or made to feel bad in some way. But is this actually our direct experience, or are we simply taking the thought at ‘face value,’ without actually investigating it?
If something is claiming to be ‘you,’ is it not worth investigating it to see if the claim is valid before you agree to the suffering it seems to suggest you should take very seriously and thus be experiencing? And most tellingly, if YOU are the one conducting the investigation, than how can the thought be you?
-Michael Jeffreys
It can be quite a shock when it hits you that LIFE does not have a PAUSE button. That Life is like a river that never,ever, stops flowing. Never. A pause button does not exist. It is simply ALWAYS NOW. Which means that there’s nowhere to get. The only thing “to do” is be present for whatever is currently happening. What else?
-Michael Jeffreys
When we feel something is lacking or missing from our life, in that moment what we are forgetting is that it is not “us” that brings about this experience, but only thanks to Consciousness that we are able to have the experience of “missing something.”
Even if it “feels personal”, it’s still thanks to Consciousness that we are able to experience this thought, feeling or sensation. That is why teachers like Jeff Foster often talk about a peace in the midst of suffering. It’s the realization that something greater than any appearance is the Source of that appearance. When this is seen, sensed, felt, it is possible to shift our attention from the “story of suffering,” to an “okayness” about whatever is happening, and observe it with a sense of awe, gratitude and humility.
-Michael Jeffreys
The illusion of “self” is perpetuated, kept alive, by seeking. And seeking is another word for FUTURE. And future is NOTHING MORE than a presently arising THOUGHT that says “As soon as X happens, than I will finally have some peace.”
But ask yourself this sincerely: Does the only Consciousness that is PRESENTLY right here and right NOW actually require anything from the future in order to complete itself? To make itself be more PRESENT or more AWARE? When you see this it will blow your head-off because you realize that CONSCIOUSNESS itself, that which is the only thing being Conscious of these words on a computer screen right here and now, NEVER goes anywhere! It’s equally Conscious of a thought that says “I am at peace” as a thought that says, “I am not at peace.” Consciousness never moves or changes or comes or goes. It simply eternally IS.
–Michael Jeffreys
I have never moved, nor changed, nor ceased to be.
What I AM I always AM. I am here right now as you read these words on your computer screen.
I am the only thing that does not come or go.
I AM the eternal NOW…
-Michael Jeffreys
Last night I attended Jeff Foster’s retreat at the beautiful Serra Retreat Centre in Malibu, CA and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his new book, “The Deepest Acceptance,” which I highly recommend.
The reason Jeff’s teaching is so powerful, IMO, is that he speaks directly to whatever is happening in THIS moment and how its acceptance has already been allowed by Life, which means YOU! YOU are ALL of THIS, and so the sadness as well as the joy is fully allowed to be. The depression and the wonder both seen as part of the movie appearing on/in YOU, “the screen.”
Jeff calls the thoughts, feelings and sensation “your children” and not to abandon or leave out any of them. BE with them, intimately, deeply, authentically. BEing with them is not the same as thinking about or going into story about them. It’s more direct than that. You FEEL the raw feeling, as it is, without any label or story. Even if there is seeking arising in this moment, than that too is fully embraced. Nothing left out… that’s how deep the deepest acceptance is.
-Michael Jeffreys
The mind believes that it/you are the body and thus is attracted to things that it believes will make it/you/the body happy. When you believe the mind, suffering is inevitable, as you are NOT your body (just like you are not your car, although you use it to get around).
Once you know yourself as THAT which the body appears in/to, you are unconcerned with the mind’s never ending attempts at trying to improve things and “get ahead.” The sage understands that LIFE is the true Master, not the thoughts in the head, and so he (although this witnessing presence is neither male nor female) allows the mind to simply do its thing, while silently observing the arising forms from a place of emptiness. A thoughtless state of Pure Being. Pure Love.
Nothing exists without YOU. What is the core ingredient/energy for this moment to exist? YOU! What is Your SOURCE? Do you KNOW it? Have you danced with the Self-illumined LOVE that is HERE right NOW, that has never moved, yet without with nothing could be? Do you know yourself beyond form?
-Michael Jeffreys
I spent today at Scott Kiloby’s workshop in Santa Monica, CA and he took us indepth into his “unfindable self” inquiry by having us all do it (23 of us). I found the “teaching” direct, practical, and a great “tool” for when you are stuck or spinning, and can’t seem to get “unstuck.”
The first point is that it is designed to be used on real situations when you are actually suffering, as opposed to “what if’s” or”theoreticals.” So, for example, in the thought, “I am depressed,” if you just look at the words alone, the actual physical letters one by one, do you see YOU actually in them? In other words, is the “YOU” that is depressed actually in the words themselves?
No. They are just words. Pure words, no YOU who is suffering somehow inside them. YOU are what is aware of, or the space for, the words. And so next we move on to the feeling you are experiencing, sans words. And, again, you try to find the YOU that “is feeling depressed”, but you just can’t do it. It’s 100% feeling, and there is no “you” insight! (And in fact during the workshop today, I noticed that the energy that I felt inside which I labeled “fatigue” wasn’t calling itself that! It was simply energy that feels the way it feels. It was my mind that was labeling that sensation as “fatigue.”
Scott calls this the “velcro effect,” where your words (the story you are telling yourself over and over) “velcro” or stick to a feeling, thus giving them a description they do not inherently possess. Basically you are believing what the thought is telling you just because it’s telling it to you and NOT because its TRUE!
It’s like we are taking something personal that isn’t ours to begin with. Eventually you come to see that you can’t find “You” in anything! But the strength of this inquiry does not reveal itself until you actually take the time to do. Just reading it won’t do it. (Which is why Scott has several skilled facillatators that people can get coaching from.)
You can check out Scott’s website at: http://livingrealization.org/scott-kiloby-the-creator-of-living-realization/
Michael Jeffreys
