"Enlightenment"

"As I often say, "enlightenment" is a misnomer because the process of expanding wholeness is eternal. There was no beginning, there will be no end, and there is no final enlightenment.  What a relief!  Rather, there is a progression into ever more enlightening experience."

~ Excerpt from the book "Forgiving The Unforgivable" by Master Charles Cannon 

 I have the habit of reading many books at the same time, not always completing any one of them as I should in an orderly fashion simply because I see my books as learning devices and everyday I get new inspiration as to which device I should employ.  The last two days had me back to diving into "Forgiving the Unforgivable"  because I decided to give myself more time into contemplation than I normally do. And as always, my heart is always put to rest with just the right teaching at the most appropriate time.  I am a universal believer. I am not bound down by any one particular philosophy or religion.  In my heart there is only The One.  Period.  That is my spirituality and my religion.

Everyone of us life beings, are exactly where we are supposed to be. We are of course not meant to stagnate there at that point, but we are meant to soul-evolve. True soul evolution (for me) is when the meaning of one's life becomes clear from within one's self and  becoming aware of the inspirations that follow along the way for further growth.  No one can tell you that. Everyone can share.  But no one's view is valid for another. If it is does become so, it will only be up to a point.  The wisdom is to understand when to move on in the personal journey.

I am grateful for Master Charles Cannon's view on enlightenment because this is what I have always believed.  I feel the same about the process of "awakening" as well. I can't imagine there being a one-stop enlightenment and awakening deal.  If that was so, I would seriously be questioning the "eternality" of life.   Its all a process. A daily process as far as my own life is concerned and I imagine it must be for others too.  

I have given up the comfortable idea that all is well in the sense that there is going to be no chronic pain any more or that there is never going to be another conflict or disagreement in my world, etc. There is always something or the other going on and always will be, BUT, I am beginning to suffer far less than I used to. People are people. And each person is so unique and individual that to try to expect any standard behavior or code of conduct from anyone is ridiculous and setting myself up for acute disappointment, which, by the way, I have done atleast a zillion times. But once again, in my process of awakening, things have changed even further along the way. Amen to that!

I have now, with much gratitude to Life, been enjoying a new learning process.  Its a process of complete acceptance surrender and letting go my expectations, beliefs, habits, etc. Now, I have been doing this for years (or so I thought) but apparently not quite so effectively.  I am learning in a fresh new way that to take off the psychological pressure and burden I put on myself, I need to be super conscious every moment. There is no such thing as a little letting go here or little holding back there. Its ALL or nothing!  The effects of a little letting go, is only going to secure a little, short lived happiness. But surrendering and letting go completely ... ah! now we are talking! ... that's completely different ball game altogether.  My 56th birthday last month brought this into an unexpected, uncomfortable but the much needed and necessary realization of the self at yet another level of BE-ing.  My gratitude is boundless.

Life is not for suffering or not suffering.  Its purely for JOY - a Cosmic Joy because The Divine is extremely playful and delighting in Its own creation.  This idea takes a very, very long time to understand given the seriousness of our human nature and how we perceive and believe this world is and should be. The collective sense of humor does not exist. Most of the world sees a darkness. I think what happened with me was that I was deeply involved in suffering and reliving the idea of abandonment for so long, that it had become deeply embedded in my cells and therefore producing the same reactions and results over and over and over again. Actually, that is what happened exactly to be perfectly honest and real.

And one day (recently) I just burst out laughing.  It was hysterical.  This whole "abandonment" issue felt ridiculously, stupidly and funnily hysterical.  I do not know why it took this long to snap out of it.  There must be an unseen reason which my Soul will definitely reveal to me now that I have broken the record of my own record of martyred suffering and pain!! That is awakening progress for sure. The form I was seeing in front me day in and day out made me suddenly realize how I allowed myself to suffer unnecessarily. It seems it was my choice to see myself in constant pain in one area of my life and happy in another. I've no idea how I pulled that one off for so long but it certainly had to crack open one day! I am quite sure when something becomes so intense it has to break eventually whether that's the thought system, a relationship, a behavior, or whatever.  One eventually gets to see the comedy of one's life. Usually that happens long after the experience is over when we reminisce about the past!

A lovely reminder to keep me going.  Thank You. 

Excerpted from "Forgiving The Unforgivable" by Master Charles Cannon 

"Consciousness is entertained by its own play and if you are having a truthful perception of reality you should likewise be entertained by your life experience.  Witnessing your life is like going to the theatre.  One night it is tragedy: pathos, negation, and war.  At the end of the play, you applaud as you walk out, saying, "Well, that was a good tragedy.  I really enjoyed it." 

The next night is a comedy and there you are in the audience again, saying it was a good comedy, that you enjoyed it and you are applauding again.  Ideally you remain in witness consciousness regardless, watching and enjoying both tragedy and comedy. Of course most people jump up on the stage and become part of the play!  They project themselves and interfere. The don't remain wakeful in the here and now in witness consciousness simply watching. 

If you do learn how to remain in witness consciousness, delighting in your play, both comedy and tragedy, you actually learn to enjoy it all.  It is entertainment!  Of course, since the play of consciousness is multi dimensional, you begin to experience life much more fully than you ever could from just watching a play or a movie on the two dimensional screen."

Namaste!