Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Life of prayer Neville Goddard and Jose Silva

I have read Neville Goddard's Prayer the Art of Believing many times,  back in 1995 it helped with my understanding of what true prayer really is, an affirmation, a statement of what is already so, not a request to change the mind of the One I am praying to but a process to transform the mind of the One that prays.

The feeling of doubt that lingers in our minds everytime a desire arises starts as children,  we expect our parents to fill our every need and of course they cannot live up to those high standards, no human can,  and we start realizing that perhaps fulfillment of desire is a "hit and miss" kind of thing, those of us raised in religious households, like myself, are taught to pray to God for certain things that are impossible for our parents to give or fix,  only to obtain the same results as with our needs that we think our parents should meet,  sometimes it's "yes", most times is "no".    In this process of asking and most time not receiving the idea of powerlessness begins to take hold of our self image.  The only explanation to this fickle behavior by a god that sometimes is not in the mood to please us (otherwise known as god's will) is that there is no explanation (otherwise known as god's mysterious' ways).

There are many concepts we pick up in life,  we are constantly bombarded with all kind of manipulated and tainted opinions,  the attack comes for everywhere,  well intended sometimes,  but they do not have to be accepted,  and this simple statement is the basis for a life of prayer.  A life of constant and present mind renewal, alert and committed to the life we want to live,  loyal to the ideal "Me".  Prayer is bringing this ideal of who we desire to be closer and closer to the present moment until we no longer feel like an impostor but as the authentic blessed being for whom All things are possible.  By using Neville's techniques of immobilizing the body in a state akin to sleep,  I find the Silva Mind Control Long Relax exercise a good tool,  we quiet  the mind and reach a higher level of awareness (Silva refers to it as Alpha level) that allows for the conscious supplanting of ideas onto the subconscious.  Ideas that are more in alignment with our desire.  To supplant is to take the place of (another), as through force, scheming, strategy,  by mastering the art of prayer we may supplant by assumption.  "The earth was formless and empty and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Genesis The Beginning),  by reaching the Alpha level using Silva's method we reach that state of awareness that is formless and empty,  the noise and chatter of our internal dialogue is "paused",  the Spirit of God (Our awareness) alone lingers over infinite psychological states (the bible refers to this states  as "water") and then we assume the feeling that would be ours if we knew that our desired is now realized.  This simple method given to us by Neville if practiced regularly does not fail.  If we ASSUME that our prayer has been answered (Thank You Father for you have heard me and I know that You hear me ALL WAYS).  

Assume :  To take for granted or without proof, definition given by dictionary.com,  this is a pretty tall order for the one that by habit and default thinking have identify and surrender to the world seen with the mortal eye,  that faith,  which is defined by Neville as "loyalty to the unseen reality" and that an absolute requirement to master the art of prayer, only comes with understanding.   That is the first step of creation, "Let There be Light"  let there be wisdom and understanding of who and what we really are.  How much power and control we think we have over our life?  Are we a little worm, begotten by dust and condemned to return to the earth?  Or are we more than that?  Is it possible that there is an unconditional Source of Love that became us and sustain us?  Is it possible that there is a rhyme and reason to our existence after all?  Maybe we are more powerful than we think we are, that just by the fact that "success against all odds" is a sentence that have been used by many to describe actual events that had been catalogued in the realm of the impossible,  then I conclude that yes,  there is more to us that meets the eye, the mortal eye that is.

Prayer The Art Of Believing

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Seduced by God

"You and I can contemplate an ideal, and become it by falling in love with it  " Neville Goddard
Mastering the art of doing nothing is hard work,  specially since the work to be done has nothing to do with physical action.  Doing nothing is an act of surrender to love and mystery.  I allow myself to be seduced by Love.  

My mother, my niece and I.   I love them with passion,  it drives me crazy when I notice our shortcomings,   but a smile from any of them makes life sweeter.

  

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Seduced by God

Advise from Don Miguel Ruiz for the Dream Master

“By being a dream master, we change as fast as the dream changes. And we adapt to the dream, instead of resisting the dream, and guide the dream in whatever direction we want to.
Rule number one: Don't believe me. I don't want you to believe me but I want you to listen and make choices-- your choices. If what I say doesn't work for you, leave it. but if it works for you and that is what you want, then make it yours.
Rule number two: Don't believe yourself. Why? Because most of your belief system is a lie-- it is not true. And by believing yourself, you create all the imitations that don't allow you to be what you really are. Don't believe yourself. Listen to what you say, listen to what you think, listen to what you believe. And when you listen, open your ears, open your mind, open your intelligence and make choices.
Rule number three: Don't believe anybody else. Don't believe them at all. Open your ears and your mind, listen and make choices.
If you follow these three simple rules, you can go anywhere in the world and still protect your new dream of love and heaven in your mind. You have to be aware of what it is that you believe. You have to listen to that voice and make choices.

And that is what my "Four Agreements" are about. They are the way to re-create the dream. And the result is what we call the mastery of love, which is a way to live your life and a way of being, in your own way and with your integrity, just the way you are. It is a dream that is completely love.
But you need to do your work to change your beliefs and your ways. You need to become a dream artist. It is the supreme art that all human beings have.
The Four Agreements: Number one is to be impeccable with your word, which means that you never are going to use the word against yourself. You never go against yourself. The second agreement is: Don't take anything personally. If you don't take anything personally, you will not be offended wherever you go. Because the truth is that whatever people do or don't do, it is not because of you.
Number three is don't make assumptions because the way we learn to dream the dream is based on assumptions. That is how we create all those big dramas. By not creating assumptions, we avoid all those lies-- we recover part of our integrity. And the most important agreement is: Always do your best. For sure, you always can do your best. And your best changes all the time-- when you are sick or tired, your best is different than when you are awake and fresh. But by always doing your best, your are always going to be content with yourself.
If you make the choice to do your best and believe it, that is your best. You have the power to make the choice. And magic begins to happen in your life. This is the mastery of life. This is the goal of the Toltec. This is the path to personal freedom."
To read the complete article please visit http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=186829363&blogId=297077489

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I just noticed

Spring is here I just noticed that birds have been singing louder everyday, my neighbor across the street is building a deck on his backyard by the lake in preparation for the summer months that will be here before we know it. My body is ready for the humidity and unrelenting heat of a summer vacation by the beach, shedding 40 pounds of anguish and self doubt, it happened while doing not much, trusting that in the not doing by choice or by force I would find the stilness of just being. Spring is here, sunny days with the occasional rain that brings a winter like gloomy feeling but the light keeps shining, small victories, pigeon's nest by my window, Saturday afternoon movies, Saga Bay beach watching a little boy frolic and make beleive while the sky grows orange.

Spring is here nobody knows how it happens it just does.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Angels, Mystics and Saints

If You Don't Know, You Just Don't Know
"I knelt at the So-called tomb of Jesus and prayed. A "Christian" standing beside me said, "Do you believe in that?" I went up the Sainted Stairway in Rome on my knees. A "Christian" beside me said, "Well of all the superstitious persons." I showed some Hollywood party crashers who came to my home one night a lovely, life sized Buddha, and said to them, "If you burn a piece of incense and say a prayer it will come true." They did - and went away telling the world that I was a worshiper of Buddha.
I burned a candle in a CATHOLIC church - knelt and prayed. A person said - what?
If you take nothing with you nothing is there - If you do not understand it doesn't matter.
Anyone who is healed at the Shrine of Lourdes takes with him the Recognition of the Truth - and so - if you don't see you just don't - too bad. "When ye pray believe that ye receive - and that is the LAW. It is not according to the ideas of man.
If you do not know God, you cannot see Him in hell. That's where you need Him most - not in a church house."  Walter Lanyon  excerpt from  2 A.M.

I remember my guardian angel from childhood,  he wore a blue robe had white wings and stood on the nightstand next to my bed for years,  it was the last image in my mind right before I went to sleep, specially the first few nights I started sleeping alone in my room,  it was given to me by my mother,  my 3 brothers each got one but I doubted that they were as devoted to theirs as I was to mine, after all they shared a room and did not have to sleep in the dark by themselves,  it was around this time I started to wish for a sister,  it was lonely being an only girl.  This blue porcelain figure brought me comfort just like many rituals in the catholic faith bring my parents comfort and there is no amount of pedophile priest reporting that would deviate them from the strength needed to go on  that their catholic faith and traditions have given them.  I left the catholic church a long time ago even before the child abuse scandal broke,  I embrace the new thought teachings with passion, ever since I read Norman Vincent Peale's  book about the true nature of God I embarked on a path to prove to myself and my entire family that this suffering in the valley of dead idea could not possibly be God's will,  that this was an invention of our making to explain the unexplainable,   the events that seem to take our breath way and left us feeling secretly blindsided and betrayed by a God that has promise to love us and take care of us,  a God that just in case he couldn't take care of us Himself had a legions of angels and saints as a back up but even with all that help many prayers went unanswered.

So I had put the idea of angels and saint away, discarded along with a big man in the sky taking care of me, god is in me, all is within, the new thought teachers preached from the pulpits, books, worshops, podcast, twitter, or whatever new and advance pulpit technology provides.  I get it,   nothing is "out there",  consciousness is the one and only reality,  I get it.  It is very clear and for the first time I have come to realize that all is sustained by thought,  not that I am in total charge of this manic child that spews thoughts every second of the day but I am getting pretty good at observing and not reacting to every single thought that rises from me.  But there is something that has been missing,  in order to rise in consciousness there has to be an assumption that I am an spiritual being having a human experience in a SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE,  and recognizing the existence of that spiritual universe allows to make contact with Heavenly Creatures, angels, mystics and saints that are willing and available to help, that are ever aware of us and LOVE us,  how could they not if they are present in us as ONE.   It is time for me to let go of religion and get on with Life,  yes there are many traditions from my catholic upbringing that I find useless,  I find religion absurd and a process of brain washing and manipulation but is just part of the "descending" that Neville Goddard's talks about,   in the "ascending" I appropiate the ideas that are useful and provide "an inner crutch",   no longer seeing rituals for the weak or superstitious  mind ,  after all if there is something that has been proven by new and non new "thoughters" is that a thought held in mind produces after its kind,  so what is wrong with an experience that includes angels that lift me up so my feet won't trip on stones?  Sounds good to me!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

who is taking care of me? Who, Me??? Me? umm... ME

Intellectual understanding if the first step to know our own Self,  the mystic is not on blind faith path, it leads nowhere.  The fact that the mystic ASKS for understanding implies that there is that mustard seed size faith that is enough to start the journey,   and that is the beauty of Grace,  that even when not recognized is still present no matter how long it takes us to acknowledge that we are holding the answer to our prayer.  In the metaphysical bible dictionary John The Baptist is described as "high intellectual perception of Truth not yet quickened by Spirit",  occupying this state of mind allows for the understanding asked for in the statement "let there be Light",  clearly the "business of the Father" are to be handled in the flesh,  with eyes open and in every aspect of our life for the Father is Life,  and Life is NOW.    The mind as my servant is overshadowed by ME,   and is now Disciplined Imagination,   thoughts still may feel like wild horses but  they could not drag me away from the place of growing assurance that I know occupy.

As children to be taken care of by a parent is expected,  we can still do that, as we grow in understanding we recognize Who is the Real Parent, we discover who has been "doing" the taking care of.


wild horses could not drag me away

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Nadie le quita lo bailado, o lo fumado o lo que se ha disfrutado

Se murio la abuela, Teresa Gutierrez,  memoria de mi juventud en Colombia, no me acuerdo de la trama de la novela en si pero si me acuerdo de que no me perdi un solo capitulo y tengo grabada en mi memoria la figura de Teresa Gutierrez en su vestido negro protagonizando el caracter principal como "La Abuela", recuerdo su voz, fuerte y con tonos masculinos,  siempre lucia rigida como un palo y era el caracter mas diabolico de la television colombiana.  Pues se murio ayer a los 80 y pico, puso su cabeza en el hombro de su nieta como si se fuera a dormir y se durmio... para siempre.  Su hijo dice que Teresa Gutierrez vivio una vida plena, bailo lo que tenia que bailar, fumo lo que tenia que fumar, tuvo los novios que tenia que tener, y trabajo como actriz, su pasion,  desde que empezo la television en Colombia en los 50's hasta el ano pasado.  Se pasaba horas jugando solitario, viendo television,  actuando y amando a su familia, tenia una relacion hermosa con su nieta a la que le toco el privilegio de prestarle el hombro para el descanso final,  no se detalles de esta relacion pero la nieta dijo "me adoraba" en el reportaje que publica el tiempo.  Que hermoso saber que alguien nos adora, que en los ojos de ese alguien no hay nada en nosotros que pueda condenarse.  Quien me adora?

No hay nada mas liberador que saber que el amor que se recibe no tiene razon de ser,  simplemente somos amados por que si, porque existimos,  ni pena ni gloria es requerida.  El dia puede pasar y simplemente me muevo de un punto a otro en mi casa, combinando uno que otro quehacer , un cigarillo en el balcon,  leer... los dias transcurren a veces pesados a veces livianos,  viviendo es los unico que se puede  hacer,  sin esperar por nada,  la vida es plena en este momento.  No hay mas nada hasta que pongamos la cabeza en el hombro de un ser al que adoramos y siguer durmiendo.

http://www.eltiempo.com/culturayocio/tvyfarandula/fallecio-la-actriz-teresa-gutierrez_7374908-1

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Practice Practice Practice

One valuable advantage of the nerd is that not a whole lot of social contact is required on the daily, lots of times may be dedicated obsessively to our subject of interest, which right now happens to be the search for a place of rest "Heavenly Rest", I want to grab the what, that I am looking for with the who I am looking with, discover they are one and the same and finally exhale.
I have discovered it takes practice to chase my own tail, I have been getting lots of good advise from my most loyal companions, my books, the ones I have read countless times, the ones bought but never read till now and today, one I found in a little paperback trade bookstore where everything smells old and you can find every romance novel ever written, the kind that makes the lonely girl heart's flutter(been there, done that) by the way this place would had been paradise for me in the late 80's and early 90's. A book has always been my most loyal companion and looking back I can describe my inner feelings at a certain time in my life just by remembering which books I was reading.

This is good advise for the seeker, it will most definitely lead to Discovery "The right and wrong is in yourself. Listen to yourself. Find out what is going on in your mind. Is it not the memory of the loss that you have had? It is a continual voice going on in your heart saying-"you have failed, you have failed, you have failed"Can you make this be quiet? be silent? As soon as you get rid of this reflection all will be well with you. What must I do? How can I do this? The mystic answer "Determination, promise me that from now on you will never give a thought to your past failures. Past is past, present is present. Proceed with hope and courage, all will be well." From Spiritual Dimensions of Psychology by Hazrat Inayat Khan

All my counseling this week has been along the same lines, "Assumptions harden into fact" advise given by Neville Goddard, "Repetition , repetition" given by Walter C Lanyon and the one that grabbed me as soon as I heard it "It ain't that heavy mama, let it go" by Mo'nique on Oscar night, thanks girl and congrats!