Become Bewildered

We must become ignorant

Of all we’ve been taught,

And be, instead, bewildered.

Run from what’s profitable and comfortable

If you drink those liqueurs, you’ll spill

The spring waters of your real life.

Forget safety.

Live where you fear to live.

Destroy your reputation.

Be notorious.

I have tried prudent planning
Long enough, from now
On, I’ll live mad.

~Mevlana Rumi

Alegría - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah

JUDY COLLINS & LEONARD COHEN - "Suzanne" 1976

AWAKENING

Self Realization--Jim Dreaver

A lot of seekers have many ideas about what enlightenment, or self-realization, is. Many envision it as some kind of blessed state where there are no more problems, and you experience a constant state of inner bliss, joy, and a profound compassion for all humankind. Others think only saints can be self-realized, and for it to happen you have to have transcended the desire realm, and be beyond sex and any personal wants or preferences.




This is why I don’t really like using the term ‘enlightenment.’ It is such a loaded word, weighed down by many far-fetched stories. I prefer to speak in terms of freedom, or self-realization. And what I teach is that the freer you are, the more you are simply present wherever you, present without any story. The freer you are, the more you know yourself as pure consciousness, expressing in this unique body, mind, and personality known as ‘you.’



You still have a story, but now you know you are not your story. You still have an ego, an ‘I,’ a ‘me,’ but now you know you are not your ego. You honor the past, keep an eye on the future, but live right here, now. You feel a tremendous gratitude for the gift of being alive, you’re always, essentially,* at peace, one with the flow of life.



Above all, you feel moved to share your good fortune with others. You see that the world needs this, before anything else.



Love and blessings,



Jim



*I say ‘essentially’ because no matter how free we are, we are still human, and subject to human flaws and foibles, like illness, mistakes, errors in judgment, and even occasional residues of old egoic patterns. Part of being free, or self-realized, is accepting and being at peace with our imperfect humanity!

The Balrog Arises--The Gulf Horror

As I read and hear more about the calamity in the Gulf I am reminded of the part in The Lord of the Rings when the fellowship goes into the Mines of Moria and discover what the Dwarfs had done. The Dwarfs were wiped out because they dug too deep and awoke the ancient horror of the Balrog. This is what we have done in the Gulf. In our pursuit of riches BP went into depths way beyond what our current technology can support, working at depths with unbelievable pressure. And now, besides the bleeding oil, there is vast amounts of methane gas emerging that will likely create miles of dead zones--zones completely bereft of life. And there are concerns by scientists that this rising methane will create a bubble that may explode and create a tsunami and/or a death cloud. When I was living in Cameroon in the 80s there was a methane bubble that erupted from a crater lake. It swept down the mountainside killing everything in its path.

Maybe this will wake us up and we will be more conscious in our relationships with the Earth, recognizing that everything and everyone is connected, that we can't profit at all if we abuse any part of that connection. That is what I hope for and pray for. May we all become Gandalfs, meet our Balrogs and serve the Whole.