Q: Please explain more about the paradox of living as one Christ Consciousness and yet also living in an individuated body and ego.

A: Beloved friend, please listen well as we give you the punch line. In Christed awareness, it is impossible to live as an individuated mind or ego, since Christed awareness is becoming established in the transcendence of the old misperception that you are living inside a body and peering out through it and are, therefore, separated from others because of the distance between bodies. In Christed awareness, you literally feel and know your identity to be Spirit. And Spirit embraces all things. You literally recognize that there is nothing outside of you.

Yes, it is quite true that the body-mind you once used to be identified with is still going on. But it has been translated. It has been transformed because your perception of it has been corrected. You realize that your ability to be aware is the very gift of God that created you in the first place. That power to be aware is the power of Spirit Itself. Therefore, it is no longer “my” body-mind, “my” egoic mind, it is just “the” body, “the” mind. And it is given over with every breath, with every thought, to Spirit.

So, that’s the punch line. As you ask the question, it is impossible. You cannot live as Christed Mind and still be an individuated body and ego. The highest state of consciousness, then, is a state in which perception has been corrected. And the body-mind walks upon the planet as long as it lasts, but now, instead of being you, it is a simple tool for Spirit. You’re no longer identified as it, or with it. You look at your hands and your feet, you look at the head, you look at the thoughts that come and go, and you realize that the body-mind could never possibly have any purpose or value except that which God gives it. And you have surrendered ownership. You said, Father, it’s pretty evident that I haven’t known how to live happily, joyfully, and at peace. I give myself ... I give all of this back to You. You use it. And I’ll go where You want me to go. I’ll take the carcass, the body, wherever You want it to go. It no longer matters to me. I am here only to be at peace and to offer this body-mind as a possible way through which Love can be revealed to another, through which wisdom can be given to the world. I’m not even attached to that. All things are Yours.

Therefore, beloved friend, as you go through your day, begin to notice how you are thinking about the body itself. How many times do you say “my” body, “my” ego, “my” thoughts?

Begin to create some distance by simply saying “the” body, “the” egoic mind (which is really not the possession of anybody; it’s just a temporary quality of mind that many beings seem to be sharing), “the” thoughts. If you were sitting next to your ocean, and you were watching waves arise and fall, would you say, "That wave is mine and nobody else’s?" Of course not. You would say, "Oh, there goes a wave."

Can you teach yourself, during the course of your day, to do the same thing? "Oh, the body is washing dishes. The body is walking upon the grass. Oh, there are thoughts passing through the mind." Can you become the Witness, or the observer, of what is arising and passing away? For the more that you develop the quality of the Witness, the more the world becomes transparent, and the more you realize that you are the watcher of all thoughts. You are the seer of all things. You are Spirit. You are like the ocean in which waves arise and pass away. And you begin to become identified - not as the body, not as the particular personality or history - you’ll become identified as that which embraces and trusts and allows all things. You will be Spirit. And then you will know the answer to your question, for it cannot be answered with the intellect. It can only be known and lived directly.

That should give this one pause. So, do you have any others?

Q: Can you talk about what the perception of the New Age movement is regarding “up and out,” riding the ascending current and ignoring what we call the “shadow side,” and how to balance the ... not to be in denial of the shadow? Can you just discuss that - riding the ascending and descending currents, in less than ten minutes?

A: Beloved friend, this would be a very good question to devote an entire hour to, or perhaps several hours. And yet, I will give the answer to you in two minutes. The only question will be, will you be able to realize that Truth in the seven or eight that are then left to you? [laughter]

Here is the answer: The Seeker must become the Finder. The desire to ride the ascending current is a subtle aspect of seeking experience. The heart that is awake embraces all things, trusts all things, denies nothing. And if you are in this world, what you call the “shadow” can be loved as easily as any ascending mystical experience. The desire to ride that current is nothing more than the desire to avoid something. If you know that you are Spirit, there is nowhere to go to. There is only the loving embrace of that which is, that it might be restored to a moment through which Love is extended.

Therefore, embrace all things, trust all things, allow all things, transcend all things. That should be sufficient for now. But within it, there is much to be contemplated.

Did I accomplish it within the two minutes?

Response: You did an excellent job.

Hmm! It is because I spent so much time riding the ascending current. But more than this, it is because I spent time embracing the sinner, the sin, the illusion of suffering, and bringing Love to my brothers and sisters by turning to look at what I thought was darkness, only to discover that, within it, was the Light of God, and that nothing could harm me in any way. I became free when I stopped seeking God, and allowed God to find me.

Therefore, the one who seeks to go somewhere is just playing the same egoic pattern. Only Love is Real. And in that moment [snaps fingers], Christ is present. The Atonement is completed. The Master has arisen in the twinkling of an eye.

But again, we want to suggest that you create a context in which that question can be given much deeper consideration.

So, to those of you present, know that nothing comes by accident. And you have chosen to set aside your time. You have chosen to set aside your time to be in this room, not by accident, but because, already, there is a place within you that knows how to listen to the guidance of your heart. Therefore, trust that guidance in all things. You are not alone. And the power of the Love of God is with you even now, and will be throughout all eternity.


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