Will's Posts (44)

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Do you know what you're afraid of? Awareness of a fear is the first step to releasing it, someone who isn't aware of their fears is controlled by those fears.
People don't like to think of themselves as being afraid though, people would rather think of themselves as brave, it's a matter of pride. The fears are stuffed down into the unconsciousness so they don't have to be acknowledged. This is probably the worst thing you can do though, as in the unconsciousness is where the fears fester, multiply, and eat away at the person.

Uncovering the fears is quite simple, simply pay attention to your behavior, it will give away the fears. Look at what you avoid, is it simply because you don't enjoy that thing, or is there a deeper reason? Look at what you attack or condemn, especially when it stirs up anger or hate, what's behind that? Also, things you aggressively defend such as beliefs, possessions or other people, are you afraid of losing something? When you get all riled up emotionally, there's a fear somewhere behind those emotions.

Your mind is like a house, and the thoughts are your guests. Fears are obnoxious and unruly guests who will trash the whole house if unchecked. A mind without Awareness is like a house where the owner has left and rowdy guests have taken over. The guests aren't going to leave on their own, they like being in control of the house even while they destroy it.

Awareness is the first step, a fear that you're conscious of doesn't have the same kind of power. It's manageable, but wouldn't it be far better to be free of that fear entirely? Your fears attract what you don't want into your life, fear keeps people living unconsciously, keeps people enslaved, keeps people searching outside of themselves. Fear keeps you locked in the same patterns, it kills growth.

Releasing fears is simple, yet your mind makes it complicated. How do you let go of a physical object? You simply stop holding on to it, the same is true with fear. Your fears stick around because you feed them your energy, you cling to them. You give your fears "life", either consciously or unconsciously. It may seem your fears have a grip on you, but that's just part of the illusion fear creates. It's really you that is holding on to them.

You can release your fears before the situation that you fear arises. In fact, dreams are great for doing this, but you don't have to be dreaming either, simply imagine a situation that you fear. If you're afraid of heights, afraid of falling to your death, imagine yourself standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down. The fear will arise, and depending on your imagination, it may be just as strong as if you were really there. It's an unpleasant feeling, isn't it? There will be the urge to avoid the fear, to run away from it, and that is precisely the kind of behavior that empowers fear. Don't back down, really look at the emotions. When you feel the fear completely, a funny thing happens, the fear loses its power over you.

Fear is nothing more than negative emotions. As far as thoughts go, they're weak, minor ones. Your mind makes mountains out of molehills though, and gets you believing they're big, scary things. Awareness of the fear, looking at it without backing down, reveals its true nature. Suddenly it's something you have control over, whereas unconscious fears have control over you.

You can repeat the process I mention above with any fear, I just used a common one as an example, the fear of heights. If you're afraid of public speaking, you can imagine that scenario, if you're afraid of losing your teeth, you can imagine that scenario. Another thing to understand is that it's not always a quick and easy process. Don't get discouraged if you don't fully release a fear on the first attempt, or even on the hundredth attempt. Sometimes it's only a little bit of release in each instance. Of course, any technique is ultimately limiting in the long run. If you get attached to it, it's a restriction upon your consciousness, so if it doesn't work for you, let it go!

A final consideration: Fear is always rooted in attachment, fear of heights is usually a fear of death, which is attachment to the physical body. Fear of public speaking is usually fear of embarrassing yourself, which is attachment to the ego. The release of attachments and the release of fears are deeply connected, attachment is the fear of loss. The funny thing is that as you release your fears/attachments, you get closer to Oneness, and you don't lose anything except your illusions. Nothing is lost, and Everything is gained, the exact opposite of what the mind is afraid of.

 

The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/releasing-fears-they-manifest

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Apo3D-130417-925011_0.jpg?width=300I've got some great news! The Divine never left you! It's always been with you throughout your entire life, and the Divine is here right Now! Realization of this just takes a shift in perspective, a shift in consciousness, and for that there's nothing you have to do, nor does it does it cost a dime. All the busy doing and searching for the Divine is actually why the Divine is so hard to find. How do you find something that's as close to you as your own Heart? How do you find something that's Everywhere Present? It's through a shift in Consciousness, a change in perspective. It's not an intellectual pursuit, in fact intellectual pursuits are what created the illusion of separation in the first place.

The Divine never left Planet Earth, and neither did Planet Earth ever leave the Divine. She's not under the same illusions Humanity is, Her Consciousness didn't fall along with Humanity's. She's still very much a Higher Consciousness Being, her only issue is that she has a skin condition. I'm sure it's insulting to call Humanity parasites, but I don't know of a more fitting term. Humanity takes and takes and takes from their host, and only a tiny minority actually does more good than harm. Humanity could work with each other and the Planet to turn the surface back into Eden, but at the moment this possibility isn't even considered, at least not collectively.

Humanity only sees the surface, this is true both literally and metaphorically. They don't grasp at the depths, they only see the surface layers, and then make assumptions about what's underneath. They do this to each other, and the do this with the Planet too. Shallow visions and limited thoughts.

This whole idea that the Planet is at the mercy of human is rather egotistical and arrogant. It's more like humans are at the mercy of the Planet. A little bit of shifting, and the majority of humans would be gone from the surface, it's happened before. Generally, people think "death" is some horrible tragedy. Of course, this is the perspective of the "living" people, the "dead" people are much less dramatic and much more peaceful. The Planet has been very patient with Humanity so far, though.

There's people that like to project their suffering outwards, and focus upon the suffering of the Planet and the suffering of the animals. The Planet and the animals don't suffer like Humanity though. The person who abuses animals is suffering more than the abused animals, in fact, this is the reason the person is so abusive. I say this not to justify the abuse, or to try and make it okay, I say this because the animals are, in general, wiser than the humans. Animals don't fear the future or cling to the past, they're Present, and far closer to the Divine than human beings are at the moment.

This is why my focus is upon the root problem, human suffering. When that is fixed, the exploitation of the Planet and the abuse of it's inhabitants will end naturally. Suffering people can't help but spread their suffering, you cannot assist the healing of anyone or anything else from a foundation of disease. Consciously you may believe you're doing some good, but unconsciously you'll be spreading poison. This is why the greatest thing you can do for yourself and everyone else is to heal yourself, to release your own pains and fears. Holistic solutions are what's needed, and those don't come from the limited vision of a  fear-based mind.

The Planet already has the ability to heal Her surface naturally. All humanity has to do is get out of the way of this process, to learn to work with the Planet instead of struggling against Her. So simple, nothing to figure out, the solution was already there before the problem even existed. Yet your mind makes it difficult, the mind resists the Natural Flow. The Planet would Love to work with you, She can actually speak to beings that are Conscious. You have only to release your fear, your suffering, your misery and pain, your limited thinking and your little illusions. Break those down and let them go, then you can start building up something much more Beautiful.


The Galactic Free Press
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WdBCW.jpg?width=300If nothing else, this is a message of compassion. I don't want to discourage rebellion, nor do I want to encourage rebellion, I just want people to love each other.

We live in a very divided society, and the elite have learned to exploit this division for their own gain. Conservatives vs. liberals, native born vs. immigrants, rich vs. poor, so much petty conflict among people who have so much more to gain by working together. People who have far more in common than different, yet the manipulative media keeps people focused upon the differences, the divisions. The media gives equal weight to two contradictory pieces of propaganda, and calls this "balance". Telling the truth would be balance, what the media spreads is cognitive dissonance which leads to confusion and conflict.

Then there's the mainstream society and the countercultures. At the moment in the US, I don't know of any countercultures that mainstream society takes seriously. Hipsters, goths, punks, emos, environmental activists, the Occupy movement, feminists, all of these are mocked openly, they're generally considered a joke by mainstream society. Back when these movements were gaining momentum they were taken a bit more seriously because they threatened societal norms, but now they're usually the butt of jokes and treated with disrespect.

The civil rights movements, as well as the hippie counterculture, are a couple examples of ones that merged into the mainstream, at least partially. It's now socially unacceptable to be racist in public, especially for those of European ancestry. We're constantly told how bad racism is, which is a step up from the way it was before. Of course, you don't have to tell a loving person to not be racist. It's a racist culture that needs to be reminded continually to not be racist. Society is a little less racist thanks to the civil rights movement, but there's still a long ways to go for real equality.

A good part of why these movements had some success is because they had a foundation of compassion and forgiveness. They weren't against society so much as they were for positive change within society. They focused upon what we all had to gain. It's easy for the media to demonize someone who's rebellious and destructive, but it's different with a peaceful and compassionate person. The media demonizes themselves by attacking someone like that.

You don't change society through hatred, anger or fear, those only make superficial changes. Society is already largely based upon those things, any "new" society created through those things will be, at its core, just like the previous society.

For those who want to scream at the police and military, who want to yell, "Wake up Sheeple!" at the "common" folk, I don't believe you're helping. That approach lacks compassion and understanding. Most of the police believe what they're doing is for the good of society. You marginalize yourself fighting against them, you create enemies where you could have allies. These are people who are just as exploited by the system as you are, don't get angry at them, practice some compassion. If you want to change society, you don't do it by attacking society. Focus upon creating the new, the common good, and not fighting the old.

The media and the elite exploit the countercultures for their own gain. When a distraction is needed, the media can pretend like our whole way of life is under attack by some "extremist" group. They're adept at manipulating fears, and it's quite easy for them to use an angry protest to frighten people. When people are scared their brains shut off, they go for what's comforting and familiar, change becomes very difficult. This is why compassion is so much more powerful at creating positive change than anger is.

Ultimately, I feel any counterculture is far more similar to the culture they're trying to replace than those in the counterculture would like to believe. Look at any subculture, they usually dress the same, act the same, share the same interests. Even the new age and the spiritual communities do this. It's conformity that pretends to be non-conformist. Of course, it's the similarities that make them a culture in the first place, but any rigid cultural structure ultimately oppresses the individual.

Well shit, I've insulted mainstream culture, as well as the subcultures, I'm not making any friends, am I? Well it's not my intention to insult the reader, I don't recommend taking offense at my words. You are not a culture, you are uniquely yourself! Nobody fits perfectly into any culture. This doesn't make culture the enemy though, fighting a culture just makes people cling to cultural beliefs more tightly. Threatening someone shuts them down, while Love and compassion open them up. If we do that enough, Love and compassion will work their way in to the core of our cultural values, and humanity can begin collectively creating some truly beautiful things on Planet Earth.


The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/those-who-rebel-against-society-are-often-doing-it-favor

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The Problem with God (the word)

forest-314325_640.jpg?itok=Y3urz_OV&width=300God is easily the most abused Being on the Planet, She's an even bigger scapegoat than Obama. People blame God for all their problems, expect God to solve all their problems, and then curse God when She doesn't. Imagine if you did that to another human being, it would be an extremely abusive relationship! Yet for some reason it's okay when you do it to God, like you don't have to show any kindness towards Her.

Oops, I seem to have used the "wrong" pronouns for God previously, I'll bet that bothered a few belief systems. God is supposed to be a man, right? A bearded old guy that lives in the clouds or something along those lines. I'm not even sure how God can have a specific gender, isn't God supposed to be the one who created male and female? Still, we're taught to think of God as a "him", and it's what is comfortable for most people.

I can understand men referring to God as a man, it's easier to relate to God that way. It makes God something more familiar and brings God closer. It makes God more personal, which is nice, though I'm not sure women referring to God as a man has the same effect. Personally, I don't see God as a he or a she, I see God as a He and a She. Each are God expressed, and both are essential to the Whole. If you want to view Creator as male and Creation as female, I can understand, though I wouldn't view them as separate either.

    "We know when we understand, Almighty God is a living man" -Bob Marley

Sometimes I wish we had a better term than God because that one is all tied up with religion. Just saying God attracts arguments and conflict. Christians and Muslims want to come and tell you how God "really is", atheists want to come and tell you God doesn't even exist. I use the term because I don't know of any other term that carries the same common understandings, but it often creates confusion too because the word god is tied up with so many prejudices. When I say God, I mean Oneness, Love, Truth, the Universe, the Tao, Christ, Ein Sof, the Eternal Buddha, the Absolute, the Unknowable, Source. When I say God I mean Everyone and Everything, LIFE ITSELF, not the little gods that live in religious texts and belief systems. The image of "god" you have in your mind is always going to be wrong because God is so much bigger than your little mind.

GOD IS THE LIVING EXPERIENCE OF ONENESS! You try to hold onto that, define it, and turn it into a belief, you've lost it. God cannot be confined, the moment you try to fit God into a belief system, God has already expanded far beyond your belief system. God is moving at the speed of Light, and you're trying to catch up in your car. You're not going to reach the Unlimited through what is inherently limited. Why didn't the photon carry any baggage on it's trip? Because it's traveling light! Drop all that baggage and lighten up some, you beautiful Being of Light. What do you have to lose, but your own fears and limitations?


The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/problem-god-word

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tulips-65305_640.jpg?itok=rg9mxg5R&width=300How to communicate Oneness to people who believe they're separate? It's an interesting challenge with no simple answer. I'd like to share the joy of Oneness with everyone, but I have to appeal to their illusion of separation to even begin communication. It makes things rather complicated and confusing to switch back and forth between these different perspectives.

For instance, we talk about God Being Everywhere and Everything, but then we also talk about reaching God. Do you see the problem there? It's a contradiction, though a better word for it would be paradox. How can you reach what's already everywhere? You don't, and "reaching God" is simply a shift in perspective. A realization of God's omnipresence.

To the person that believes they're separate, I can't just tell them God Is Everything and have them really understand what I'm saying. From their perspective, God is clearly not everything. Even if they believe that God Is Everything, it's still different from the Living Experience. Beliefs operate from the paradigm of separation, no need for beliefs in Oneness because Truth is always Present. You know the saying a picture is worth a thousand words? Truth is a deeper vision of Reality, beliefs are just words.

This is why  I'm careful about telling people what to believe. I'm not about building up beliefs, I'm all about breaking them down until the True Self starts to shine through. You can never truly see from another's perspective, that's the flaw with religion, you have to see from your own perspective to really understand. You have to be active, you have to realize, integrate and experience things for yourself, you can't just passively believe what someone else is telling you. At least not if you want to truly experience Oneness.

There's the part, and then there's the Whole. Separation tells you that you're apart from the Whole, Oneness is the realization that you're a part of the Whole. Is any part really separate from the Whole? Would the Whole really be whole if it was missing something? Believing you're separate from God is kinda like your nose believing it's separate from the rest of your body. Your nose couldn't even function if it was separate, and the same is true of you and God.

So how to move from the perception of separation back to the Reality of Oneness? Well that's practically all we talk about on the Galactic Free Press. It's also why Buddha said that "self" is an illusion, but we usually use another term for the illusion of self, ego. It's through releasing identification with the ego and the mind, both of which were born from the illusion of separation, that we move back to Oneness. So simple, yet so impossibly difficult when you try to break down the ego/mind using the ego/mind. Luckily, the Whole Universe will support you when your intent is pure, and the map back to Oneness is written upon your own Heart.

The Galactic Free Press
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It's Okay To Be Weird - The Galactic Free Press

250px-Salvador_Dali_NYWTS.jpg?width=250I'm not sure I've ever fit in properly with society. For a long time I made the attempt, but I don't think I ever fooled anybody. Going along with societal norms was always rather awkward for me, and even my attempts to fit into the countercultures didn't really work. I was perpetually stuck in some sort of cultural limbo where I never really fit in to any specific groups. Individuals I could connect to, but I always had difficulty with groups.

Throughout the experience there was a word that followed me around, I didn't want to identify with it, but people sure liked to use it to define me. That word is "weird" and when I was trying to fit in with society, it hurt when people called me that. It meant I had failed in my attempts to fit in. Now I don't see the word with such a negative connotation, heck, it's more of a compliment now. It means I'm not a conformist, I don't just ignorantly follow the crowd. I like who I am and I don't try to hide my uniqueness.

Something I eventually recognized is that nobody ever really fits perfectly into any culture. This is why it was far easier for me to connect with individuals, because they could drop their pretenses and just be themselves. I didn't mean anything to society, my opinions didn't matter, so people could behave far more naturally around me without any fear of repurcussions. Everyone is unique, and what it means to be "normal" is just an ideal that only exists in the mind. Nobody really fits perfectly into cultural norms, it's just a mask they put on when dealing with others.

Everyone is weird, some people just do a much better job of hiding it than others. I suspect this is a big part of why privacy is valued so much in our society, someone might discover your weirdness and try to use it against you. Nobody's supposed to know that your Heart sings when you're in blissful dance, completely naked. Nobody can see you doing Dirty Harry impressions in front of your bathroom mirror. Expressing yourself too freely would bring ridicule and judgment in public, so it stays hidden, private.

If you want to be happy, let go of society's judgements, learn to be happy with yourself instead of trying to fit in. Embrace your "weirdness". Of course, do this intelligently, I'm not going to sugar-coat the way our society is. Here is the United States they have special prisons, "mental institutions", where they often put people who don't properly fit into society. Too much uniqueness and you can be perceived as a threat to societal norms. Society used to execute people like that, but nowadays they just drug them or lock them up. I don't say this to be negative, it's simply the unpleasant reality of the situation. Approaching society intelligently with awareness of how it works is highly recommended. Too much naivete can get you into trouble.

Love and acceptance of self and others is key, and how good it feels to express yourself freely without judgment! It's not really the judgment of others that keeps us chained, it's our own self-judgment. It's up to you whether or not you accept what another person says. You can see their beliefs as saying far more about them than you, that's how it really works. Like it or not, you're going to be judged by others, it's simply how our society is. You can betray your own self in a futile attempt to avoid the judgments of others by trying to fit in, or you can learn healthier ways of dealing with judgement. You can release all those chains, and you can begin right now.


The Galactic Free Press
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615px-Canis_lupus_laying.jpg?itok=r5k9o7Jg&width=200The West has seen a recent surge of interest in meditation, and it's a wonderful tool for finding a little peace and calm in an otherwise hectic world. You can sit quietly somewhere, let go of all your worldly concerns, and just relax. This is something almost everyone could use more of, but it's also just the very beginning of real transformation.

It's easy to find peace in a peaceful environment, anybody can do that. This is why spiritual retreats are so popular, you get a nice peaceful environment to do your spiritual work in. However, the "normal" human world is usually everything but a peaceful environment. It's chaotic, full of emotions and distractions. It's very challenging to stay balanced in that sort of environment, though balanced people are what the human world needs the most.

Many people who consider themselves spiritual have a fake sort of peace. Their peace is dependent upon the external environment. It's not real Peace, just an imitation. This is why the monks flee to the mountain tops, why so many spiritual people attempt to disconnect from society as much as possible. They don't want their mind's illusion of peace disturbed. Dogs barking, children yelling, cars honking, all of these must be elimanated to create the illusion of internal peace. The world gets renounced and ignored, like it's the cause of their problems, and not their own mind.

Real Peace isn't dependent upon the external world, though I will say true Peace also erases all separation between the internal and external. A truly balanced being is not so easily disturbed, and meditation becomes all-inclusive instead of focusing upon avoiding that which disturbs the mind. This is why people need to meditate sitting in a comfortable position, eyes closed, in a quiet space. Just about anything can disturb their false sense of "peace".

Now there's nothing wrong with doing that kind of meditation, I'm not against it, but I am aware of its limitations. I feel that sort of meditation is just the tip of the iceberg, it's for people to begin to get in touch with themselves again, but it's incomplete. You're probably not able to spend your whole life in sitting meditation, so they key is to integrate the peaceful states of being you discover during meditation into every aspect of your life. So long as you just use meditation to relieve stress, and then go right back to the patterns that create the stress, you're spinning in circles. Progress comes very slowly, though you probably feel a lot better than you did before beginning meditation.

The states you discover during meditation can be brought into every aspect of your life. If you're really quieting your mind, there's an intense awareness in every moment. Living from this place isn't just useful in some vague spiritual sense, but from a purely practical and even a material sense as well. Instead of being caught up in your own mind's little world all the time, you can really be aware of what's occurring around and within you. An overworked mind has difficulty solving problems, it's exhausted, whereas a peaceful being can often solve problems before they even become problems.

I recommend expanding your meditative practices to the point that I wouldn't even call it practicing anymore. Instead of searching for balance when it's convinient, make Balance your whole way of life. Being able to relax and disconnect from your emotions is nice when you're sitting down comfortably, but what about when you need it the most? It's possible to enter those meditative states even while you're talking to someone, while you're walking around, while you're on the computer. Why limit yourself? I used to do meditation while working a mindless corporate job, and I got paid while doing self-improvement, imagine that! It didn't negatively effect my work at all, as some might believe, in fact I was even promoted to manager.

Meditation is not really learning to quiet the mind, that's only the first step. One learns to quiet the mind until one can begin to see what's beyond the mind. One stops associating with all their thoughts, and just observes them. Meditation is about going beyond the illusion of mind altogether, and simply witnessing thoughts without getting attached to them. This kind of meditation is not a means to an end, it's really the very beginning of your life.


The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/taking-meditation-next-level

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8109149862?profile=originalSoul healing only comes when the being is fully Present, no need to make it any more complicated than that. You can bring incredibly transformative healing upon yourself in any moment, this one included. Any place, any time, those factors are really quite trivial, the only thing real healing takes is Presence. An intense awareness of what's going on within yourself, that's how you rediscover your authentic self, which is all that true healing is.

With all the recent spiritual authors, this knowledge is practically mainstream, but knowledge and actually applying that knowledge are two entirely different things. Everyone has beautiful moments of Presence, but they're usually very brief and not quite what it takes for radical transformation. Why is Presence usually so brief? That's easy, it's because we get distracted.

Modern life has become one big distraction, and there's a near endless supply of little distractions. People even carry around little computers around with them now, "smart" phones, so they can watch videos and play games everywhere they go. Such amazing potential for learning and communication through things like television and the internet, yet the potential is largely wasted. Now there's nothing wrong with entertainment, but making it a higher priority that your own personal growth is a very foolish thing to do. The entertainment becomes a distraction, a coping mechanism for dealing with emotional pain. It's used to avoid dealing with the pain, and through reinforcing these patterns you build up the bars of your own prison.

Be very aware of why you do the things you do. If you're like most, your life is almost a mechanical thing. Same patterns over and over again, try throwing a monkey wrench in the gears. Why not? Look at the things you do, do you really enjoy them? Or do you just do them out of habit? What's the motivation, avoiding pain? Avoiding boredom?

Boredom is a sign of a being who isn't content with themselves. There's a saying, "Only boring people get bored", and I couldn't agree more. People believe their life is boring, but it's not your life that's boring, it's your own mind. Life is too incredible, too exciting, always changing, always different, it doesn't get boring. It's the mind that's boring, it calls a lack of distractions "boring", yet these moment are some of the greatest opportunities for Soul growth. It's an opportunity to look within, to learn to be content with simply Being.

Anything in your life can be a distraction, but every moment is also an opportunity for Presence as well. This is why it's said that what you do isn't nearly as important as Being. Even reading this message can be a distraction, I know there's plenty of people who read spiritual messages for entertainment. The most popular messages are rarely the most truthful, the most popular ones often read like a Hollywood movie, and do things like make predictions for the future. The future, perhaps that's the biggest distraction of all. If you really care about the future, let it go. Understand that the "future" is only the result of what you create in the Present.

You mind is one big distraction from your Soul. Your mind has usurped your own Soul. The mind desires power, and for the mind to create the illusion that it has power, it has to deny the Soul. It has to ignore the connection to God, if it didn't, the true nature of the mind would be revealed, and it would have to play second fiddle to the Being. The whole illusion that you've invested so much of your energy in, and that continues to drain your energy, would come crashing down. For the mind to stay dominate, it has to distract from the Soul.

It would be nice if there was some magic pill that created Presence, but it simply doesn't exist. Searching for that "magic pill" is just another of the mind's distractions. You yourself have to create the change, that's a part of the realization of Who You Really Are, and what it means to be Present. Love will help you through all of this, but Love doesn't do it for you, it takes your participation as well. Life doesn't happen to you, Life is expressed through you. This is a big part of what you're here to learn and experience, once you can see past all the distractions.

 

The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/seeing-past-distractions

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Delivering Truth With Love - The Galactic Free Press

Apo3D-130417-38501.jpg?width=300Our culture is one where telling "little lies" is not only acceptable, it's often encouraged. When the wife asks the husband, "Does this dress make me look fat?" he'd better give the right answer! The right answer being what the wife's ego wants to hear. In a society ruled by ego, truth isn't very highly valued. Being "politically correct", saying the kinds of things people want to hear, becomes more important than actual honesty.

Such incredible growth we could have if we collectively stopped doing this. Instead of reinforcing others illusions, we could assist each other is raising above them. Personal development and uniqueness could be valued more highly than conformity. Imagine that! A society where we all help lift each other up instead of holding each other down.

In the meantime we can still be honest with each other, and I highly recommend delivering the truth with Love and tact whenever possible. Often we save our true feelings about someone for when that person really pisses us off, when we're highly emotional, then we tell them how we really feel. This is a kind of misuse of truth, it's using truth like a weapon.

There's a certain skillfulness needed when delivering a delicate truth to someone. It's tricky to do without creating conflict, one must be compassionate without getting all emotional. This is where Love comes in, Love assists you in assisting another without getting caught up in all the drama. Such an important skill to have, it's something all adults would do well to learn.

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thumb.jpgThere's this popular belief that we shouldn't label anyone, and there's a certain bit of wisdom there. Take Frank for instance, Frank could be anyone, we don't know anything about him other than he's probably a man. Now let me apply some labels to Frank, he's old and he's a conservative. Suddenly there's all these unconscious prejudices, positive and negative, that come up when we think about Frank. He could have been anybody at first, but now there's various expectations about what Frank is supposed to be like.

The danger here is, what if Frank doesn't fit into those labels? More importantly, what if he doesn't fit into the prejudices people have associated with those labels? I've just done a great disservice to Frank by labeling him. Human beings are complex and unique, yet by labeling him I've made him dull, one-dimensional. He's now a generic person, he's been pigeonholed in our minds.

To the dualistic thinker, it may seem like I'm saying "labels are bad", but that's not my message at all. In fact, I would hope the hypocrisy of "labels are bad" is obvious to the reader. Labels are largely unavoidable, they're how our language works. That's all words are, labels. The word Moon is not really the Moon, the word is like a finger pointing to that large sphere that revolves around our Planet. The word is simply a convenient tool for communication so we both have a similar understanding.

As with all things, Consciousness is encouraged when labeling. There's nothing inherently wrong with labeling, it's the prejudices we carry with the labels that create the issues. Prejudice, that's a label with tons of negative connotations. Most people refuse to see themselves as prejudiced, but prejudice is extremely common. Prejudice is simply pre-judgment, preconceived beliefs about someone or something and they can be both positive and negative. Nearly everyone has them, though looking at them and releasing them offers enormous opportunity for personal growth.

Prejudices limit your vision, you build up so many until that's all you can see. You no longer see a person for who they are, you simply see the labels you put upon them. Everything becomes dull because you believe you already know it. A tree is just a tree, it's no longer a beautiful and unique living organism. Life becomes boring and repetitive, though it's not really life that's boring and repetitive, but your own mind.

Look beyond the labels, focus upon what's underneath. Nearly every time I mention God, it creates some confusion. That label, God, means so many different things to so many different people. It's a very loaded term. Instead of trying to understand what I mean by it though, many try to tell me I'm using the word wrong. At that point it's no longer real communication, it just becomes an argument over semantics.

Labeling is only a problem when you can't see past the label. Everything is constantly changing, yet labels keep things static in your mind. If you can look past the labels, you can see them as simply a tool for communication. They serve a useful function, up to a point. Getting too caught up in them and they'll impede your communication with others, along with your whole vision of Life.

 

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Apo3D-4262012.jpg?width=350God is omnipresent, this is something even the backwards religions teach. Do you understand what this means, how amazing it is?

God is not separate from you in anything you do, God is always there. And don't worry, God knows what you look like naked, the realization of God's omnipresence doesn't need to make things awkward when you're taking a shower or during sex.


For those who believe in a judgmental god, I can see how omnipresence can be a frightening thing. Supposedly the ultimate authority figure is watching and scrutinizing everything you do, even more so than the NSA! It's a good thing God Is Unconditionally Loving, which makes damning others through judgment impossible. Still, people damn themselves with their own judgements, and the judgments of others.

What kind of a dumb creator would judge their creations, and not also apply that judgment to themselves? Everything you create is a direct expression of you, and this is why we encourage artistic creation as a form of self-discovery. If an artist creates a painting, and then judges it, good or bad, he's also judging himself. You cannot separate the creator and the creation, the two are forever linked.

Judgmental people create judgmental gods. Jealous people create jealous gods. Angry people create angry gods. There's the whole story of religion right there. God didn't create stupid people though, God created beautiful, unique and Divine Beings who simply put on strange disguises and forgot what was underneath. They became their disguise, and they even fool themselves!

In a Universe where God is omnipresent, which part of you is separate from God? Is separation even possible? It's what some religions teach. God is present in everything, but God is separate from Creation. Does that even make any sense? People make up contradictory belief systems that the whole Universe is supposed to follow to justify the illusions that only exist in their minds. It's only those limiting beliefs that create the illusion of separation.

God Is Creation, All Inclusive. Even the energy used to create an illusion is part of God. It doesn't mean the illusion itself is God, it means the illusion is created with misguided Divine Energy. It's like an optical illusion, it's not the way things really are, it's how you perceive it that creates the illusion. In fact, you exhaust your own Divine Energy in sustaining your illusions, it's a whole lot of work to deny God. Quite exhausting, and quite miserable too, especially because through denying God you also deny Yourself.

 

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Ending Mental Suffering - The Galactic Free Press

boy-in-waves-140496_640.jpg?itok=UE3cec2g&width=300Most people accept mental suffering like it's a fact of life, like it's completely unavoidable. People believe that suffering is something that happens to them, they believe it's this outside thing and they're a victim. That's all an illusion though, your own suffering is something you do have the power to change.

When I say suffering here, please understand that I'm talking about mental suffering, and not physical pain. Physical pain is something that's going to happen in your life, it's unavoidable. Furthermore, in most cases it's not such a negative thing. It's a great indicator that there's a problem with your physical body. If you stick your hand in boiling water, it's good to feel pain because then you'll pull your hand out and prevent any further harm. In this case the pain is very helpful.

Mental suffering can make physical pain ten times as bad. The anticipation of pain, the fear of pain, and trying to avoid pain can create enormous mental suffering even when no physical pain is present. Physical pain doesn't have to create mental suffering, and you have a direct example of that in the people labelled "masochists". These are people who derive pleasure from pain, not something I recommend, but it goes to show that mental suffering doesn't have to be a reaction to pain.

All mental suffering is self-inflicted. For most it doesn't seem this way though, since the suffering is an unconscious reaction. The patterns that have created the suffering have been repeated so many times they're automatic, without any conscious awareness. This is why it's so incredibly important to be aware of everything that's going on in your life. If you really want change, you have to acknowledge the patterns that exist, and then make a different choice.

Mental suffering doesn't even have to be related to physical pain at all. Simply waiting for something can cause suffering in people, so can a minor annoyance. It's no secret where suffering comes from, Buddha explained it over 2,000 years ago. Suffering comes from desire. If one desires to be free of pain, which is something most people want, and then pain comes along, the desire is unfulfilled. The mind didn't get what it wants, and it throws a tantrum like a child, it brings suffering upon itself. Do you see the foolishness of this? You don't get what you want, which I would think people would be used to by now, and on top of that you create misery for yourself! As if not getting your desire wasn't enough!

You don't have control over what happens in your life. You have enormous influence over your life, but not control. You're not going to get everything you desire, and that's a good thing to accept right now. I recommend simply having preferences for what you'd like to see, but not attachments or expectations on the outcome. Allow for all possibilities, don't expect life to conform to your desires. You can barely know what's going to happen in 5 minutes, let go of the future. Release your desires and expectations, and not only will you ease your suffering, you'll open yourself up to new and grander possibilities for your life.

 

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The Astral Realm - The Galactic Free Press

DivineGears2.jpg?itok=vpP7t7fK&width=350The astral realm can be a rather complicated place, and as such it has many different names. It's called 4d, the mental realm, the void, limbo, purgatory, and it's where all the religious heaven/hells "exist". Some people also call it the etheric realm, though that's a term we often use for 5D. Some people call it the "spirit realm", though I'm hesitant to call it that as well because the astral can be completely devoid of Spirit.

The astral realm can be anything you believe, your preconceptions influence it enormously. You want to see shining cities of light, you'll see that, if you want to see hellish realms, you can see that too. If you approach the astral with fear, it can become a nightmare. Your own thoughts are projected onto the astral, kind of like a movie screen. If you've ever had a lucid dream, this is exactly what's happening. You're in your own little part of the astral realm, and you can make it into whatever you choose.

This may seem very appealing, but astral experience is ultimately empty. It's just playing with illusions. It's largely an imitation of the physical realm, but with even less substance. It can be a huge distraction on the path back to Source, and people often get very caught up in the astral realm. Many types of spirituality actually focus upon working with the astral realm, and these are ones we recommend being very cautious with.

There are many who believe they've reached 5D, the Celestial Realm, but never actually raise above the upper astral. They have these preconceptions of what 5D is supposed to look like, and the astral realm becomes those preconceptions. It's nothing more than building up fantasies, but for the person who really doesn't understand 5D, they don't know any better. This is what has happened with many of the channelers and spiritual teachers at the moment.

The inability to get past the astral realm is what keeps people trapped in the cycle of reincarnation. If Consciousness doesn't raise up to 5D, the illusion of separation remains and the being doesn't return to God, at least from their limited perception. They get another chance to learn the lessons they missed in the previous incarnation.

5D is like nothing you've ever seen, it's beyond the sequential physical experience. It's not something you see, smell, taste, hear, or touch. It's beyond the senses, beyond space and time. It's a completely mind-blowing feeling of Oneness. 5D is Pure Light. If it's anything like the physical realm, it's not 5D.

The mind cannot raise above the upper astral, as the mind itself is an astral entity. Consciousness can go anywhere, but the mind cannot get to 5D. You cannot think or believe yourself to 5D, this is why we put so much emphasis on going beyond the mind. This is why the whole practice of meditation focuses upon stilling the mind, so the Being can witness something More.

5D doesn't create memories either, 5D is either part of your Present Moment or you're missing it. You many create memories about 5D, but they're always pale reflections of the Reality. In fact, even memories of the physical realm are very limited since your perception is so limited. You see only a teeny tiny part of what's really happening, and on top of that your mind interprets that tiny part into a mental knowing to create a memory. It's just a one-sided story a long ways removed from the fullness of the actual experience. There's a repository of memories in the upper astral called the Akashic Records and I wouldn't go looking for Higher Truth there. Entertainment maybe, but for the Truth of God, you've got to raise above the astral entirely.

Then there's the astral entities, mental creations that have taken on a "life" of their own. Religions often call these entities demons, though there's also a few religions who worship an entity or entities as "god" or "gods". Because people are trapped within their own minds, these beings can appear to be quite powerful, but it's a trick. They only have the power that you give them, especially through fear. That kind of misguided energy is a tasty snack for an astral entity, and it's those emotions that sustain them. If you ever have trouble with an astral entity, you always have Angels with you that can help you in clearing. Simply ask for their assistance.

To someone who's consciousness has barely risen above the physical realm, the astral can seem like freedom. For a prisoner who's lived in a tiny cage their whole life, I'm sure a bigger cage does feel like freedom. True freedom doesn't exist in the physical realm, nor does it exist in the astral. Freedom is Love equal God equal the Core of Your Being. Freedom is a 5D understanding, and you carry that Connection with you everywhere you are. You have only to expand your Consciousness beyond on the mental limits you hold on to.

 

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Taking the Easy Road - The Galactic Free Press

hike-3083_640.jpg?itok=8Uewnzds&width=300Is spiritual awakening easy? There's plenty of spiritual teachers out there who will tell you it's totally effortless. You just do this, and this, and this, and BAM, you're awakened! So why doesn't it actually work that way for the vast majority of people? For most, spiritual progress is quite difficult. It's not the magic cure-all they may have expected, in fact, it often makes people lives even more challenging.

For someone who's already in the Flow, life is effortless. If you haven't quite found that Natural Flow yet or if you keep going in and out of the Flow, life can be very difficult. For a person like this, it's much easier to go along with a society that resists Source. It takes less effort to walk the heavily trodden paths that the vast majority of society is currently walking. You're life is largely preplanned, what could be easier? And you're surrounded by people who encourage you to keep walking that path. Ultimately though, it's an unfulfilling and empty life filled with distractions from suffering, with actual healing and growth coming few and far between.

I'm not going to lie to you and say it's easy to break out of that. It can be the most difficult thing you've ever done. I still recommended doing it, but I wouldn't approach the Path back to God believing everything in your life is going to suddenly and magically fix itself. It may be quite the opposite, it may be that your whole life falls apart first. If you don't see the bigger picture, this can be very painful. Sometimes that's what it takes though to shake you free from your attachments. Your illusionary life breaks down so you can build something much grander.

You might get fired from your job. You might become homeless. You might travel great distances. You might get arrested. You may break up with your spouse. You might disconnect from your friends. You might grow distant from your own family. You may be shunned by society. All of these things are possible, though none of them are certain. You also may find people who accept you for who you are. You may find much more loving relationships. You may find beauty, wonder and adventure. You may find Yourself. The payoff is worth the risk, for those willing to go the distance.

Often, what is difficult is what's worth doing the most. Challenging yourself can bring the fastest growth. Repeating the same patterns is usually what's easiest, but chances are if you're reading this, you're someone who wants to break out of the old patterns. Only doing what's easy is usually just laziness, though I would also be careful about working yourself to hard too. You need to go beyond those dualistic paradigms to find balance, and really connect with Source.

Ultimately, God is the "easy road" but getting there can be very difficult at first. The mountain is difficult to climb for the inexperienced, but it does get easier and easier and easier until it finally does become effortless. It just takes some effort to get there.

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Saving Jesus From Religion - The Galactic Free Press

orthodox-152391_640.png?itok=9m2-OmBU&width=350Did Jesus create the Christian religion? And if you believe that, which Christian religion did he create? Is it Catholicism? That's the version all the popular modern churches are based upon. There's millions of people who believe that Jesus directly helped to create the early Catholic church. Is that really Jesus' legacy though? He once said to judge a tree by it's fruits, what are the fruits of the Catholic church? Recently there was a pope who stepped down after it was revealed the church was protecting child abusers and even helping enable abuse (source, see original article). They helped to kidnap babies from their parents in Spain (source). They helped with the destruction of the indigenous culture in Canada (source). And that's just a small selection of what they've done recently.

And this is supposed to be Jesus' legacy? Was Jesus an evil bastard or something? I don't believe that, nor do I believe such a wicked organization represents him. I don't believe the protestants are much better either, they just haven't had the same level of power that the Catholics have. They simply haven't had the same level of opportunity for abuse yet.

Jesus gave two commandments, you might think they would be the whole basis of the church and what it means to be a Christian. Nope! Jesus two commandments are largely ignored. The vast majority of christian religions are based upon an interpretation of Jesus' teachings called the Nicene Creed. So a most Christians don't even really have faith in Jesus' words, they have faith in a series of councils, originally organized by a roman emperor and where the main opposition, Arius, was assassinated. Jesus' actual commandments, which had little to do with belief systems and everything to do with Love, come secondary.

Was Jesus a friend of religion? "Hypocrites" and "brood of vipers" were the words he used to describe the religious establishment at the time. Seems to me the current Christian churches share far more similarities with the pharisees of old than they do with Jesus. They still worship money, power and control. I can think of nothing more disrespectful to Jesus than these organizations claiming to represent him.

I'm not even sure what the moral of the story is from their perspective. Since humanity crucified God, God forgave everybody? That's the kind of logic of a madman. Jesus was supposedly a blood sacrifice to God, and through this it opened up the path to salvation? Do you believe an Unconditionally Loving God really desires a blood sacrifice? Especially of a being who's supposed to be God's only son? That's some sick logic right there, no wonder so many of the churches are rotten to the core.

And why is a torture device, used to slowly and painfully kill a person, the symbol of Christianity? Christians worship Jesus' death and suffering, they love seeing him with a crown of thorns and nailed to a cross. Why else would that imagery be so popular? Part of the Christian teachings are how wicked humanity is, and since people believe that, they like to play the part. Then the churches uses the guilt that creates to control people further, while often behaving even worse themselves.

How do we even know what Jesus really taught, what he really said? He must have spoken volumes, yet only a tiny portion of that was written down. And why do people have such faith that the apostles really understood what Jesus was sharing? I certainly don't think Jesus believed that. What did he say to Peter, who's supposed to be the first pope? "Get behind me, Satan" and "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." These are the things Jesus supposedly said to the main founder of the Christian church! Jesus didn't seem to believe these people really understood what he was saying, yet Christians such faith that they accurately represent his teachings.

I Love Jesus! And I can't help but feel mainstream Christianity is ridiculously disrespectful of his message of Love and tolerance. I would even say the Catholic church is the anti-Christ, I doubt there's any other organization that has done more to twist and distort Jesus' message. Jesus gave humanity the blueprint for creating world peace, and all people have to do is Love each other. If you have trouble doing that, begin with forgiveness, it's simple! Isn't that the core of Jesus' teachings?

 

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rose-7771_640.jpg?itok=ewTYW2zu&width=350At the Galactic Free Press, our focus is upon assisting people in healing themselves. Imagine if that was everyone's goal in Life, self-healing. Not waiting for Jesus, ETs, or the government to come fix things, but everyone actively helping themselves and improving their own lives. How quickly the Planet would change! Everyone being proactive and self-empowered, instead of reactive and giving their power away. Isn't this what everyone really wants? I can think of nothing else that would create a happy and healthy humanity faster than this.

Yet so many are waiting for someone or something else to come heal them and to fix their problems. All your suffering, your fear, the problems in your life, those are things you hold onto yourself. Who can let go of them but you? You protect those things though, you use your own mind to justify them. You cling to fear because you're afraid of what would happen if you didn't cling to those fears. It's a form of insanity, though in society it's "normal".

There's this phenomenon called Stockholm Syndrome, where a person is held hostage and through all the trauma they start to sympathize and identify with their captor. They may even try to defend the person abusing them. Sound familiar? Most people do this with their own fearful thoughts, the ones that bring them so much suffering. They become those thoughts, and aggressively protect them.

People are usually too proud to admit they've been abusing themselves. That would make them look stupid. It's much easier to play the victim role and act like something totally out of your control is causing your suffering. Of course, suffering always occurs within your own mind, even if it is triggered by "external" circumstances. You have enormous influence over your own mind, you have the power to no longer suffer. It's your choice, you don't have to cling to it. Most people are still playing the "damsel in distress" role, a favorite of both the masculine and feminine ego, and waiting for something else to come save them.

Who can force you to let go? Nobody else can do that for you, you can only do that for yourself. If you understand this then you understand why it's impossible for another to truly heal you. They can provide temporary relief to your mind, they may even trick you into healing yourself, but ultimately it's you releasing the thoughts that were holding you back.

All of the mediocre psychics and spiritual healers rely upon this incredibly powerful thing called the "placebo effect". A person usually approaches a session with a psychic believing the psychic is legit and they're going to be healed. The psychic puts on the show, and through this the person allows themselves to feel better. They don't see it's their own mind that did it, they believe it's something the psychic did. In fact, they have to believe this, otherwise they might believe they're a sucker who just wasted $100 or more on a charlatan. Admitting to their own foolishness would make them far less of a fool, but that would offend the pride of the ego so it's a rather rare occurrence.

Put into context, people spend far more money on far more self-destructive things. I view all the psychic readings as more of a form of entertainment than something truly helpful. The problem is becoming dependent upon another for your healing. When you need to keep going to someone over and over and over again, I wonder how much healing is really going on? All you get is a temporary relief, not true healing. Many of the "healers" want this though, as its quite profitable.

I may be able to fool someone into allowing themselves to feel better temporarily, but the patterns that create the suffering and misery are still there. Ultimately it's up to you, nobody else, to fix these things. To the people who don't really want to release their suffering, this is disappointing. To the people who really do want to heal, it's incredibly empowering. It means you can begin ending your suffering and fixing yourself right Now! No need to wait for anyone or anything!

 
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Apo3D-LightShip.jpg?itok=6spxV7ZT&width=350To those used to dualistic thinking, these two things might seem completely different, but selfishness and selflessness are more closely related than one might believe. That's part of the illusion of duality, it takes something Whole, chops it in half, then tells you that you have to choose one or the other. Such limited thinking.

Selfishness, that's believing you're more important than others. Selflessness, that's believing others are more important than you. There's the illusion right there, the "more important" concept. Which part of Creation is more important than some other part? God doesn't create "more important" parts of the Universe, those who believe that don't understand Oneness or Unconditional Love. The Whole couldn't be Whole if it was missing a part, every single part is essential, none more important than another. The whole concept of "more important" is really just judgment created by a limited mind.

Life can't be lived dualistically, not unless you want to attract all sorts of suffering and ignorance into your life, and that's not really living anyway. The whole defining yourself as being selfish or selfless, that's part of the ego identity. What if you see everyone as Equal? What if you consider both yourself and others in your decisions? Then the whole selfless/selfish duality starts to lose all meaning.

I've seen more than a few people make themselves miserable because they allowed themselves to be taken advantage of, calling it "selflessness". I've seen more than a few people make themselves miserable by selfishly taking advantage of others. See how these things feed into each other? The "selfless" often enable abusive and selfish behavior in others and deem this "kindness". Like any dualistic concept, one "side" feeds into the other. Many, perhaps most, of the people who believe they're selfless are doing so for selfish reasons. They believe that being selfless is going to rewards them in this life or the next, and that being selfless is going to make them a "good person".

Ultimately, you're only in charge of yourself, and you are the center point in your life. This isn't an excuse to be selfish, it's just how things are. Not including yourself in your decisions is not only foolish, it's impossible. Neglecting yourself creates unhappiness and resentment within yourself, and that doesn't help other people at all, it just poisons interpersonal relationships. Discovering Love and Peace within yourself is key, and this is one of the greatest things you can do for other people as well. It's only when you find Love within that you can really share it with others, and through this Love grows even bigger. That's how God Is, God doesn't pick one thing and neglect another, God's Love flows freely to both equally. That's true healing, Unconditional Love, not the dualistic thinking of selfish/selfless.

 

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lake-macquarie-71208_640.jpg?itok=x7WS15Na&width=300What is the mind? It's really not complicated, the mind is simply a collection of thoughts that you're attached to. With everything that you believe is true, you make an emotional attachment to the thought and you keep it around. You hold on to it. All your memories, those are a part of the mind. What you believe about who you are, that's a subset of the mind called the ego. Your whole worldview, that's a section of the mind as well.

The mind can be viewed as a cloud of thoughts that surround the Being. Too many of these thoughts, and the mind is all the Being can see, just the same repetitive and limiting thought patterns. This is how the individual and society as a whole get "stuck in a rut". This is why people have so much difficultly really growing and evolving. The mind is what's responsible for ignorance, it believes that all it's beliefs are true, and thus automatically rejects new thoughts and different perspectives. The cloud of thoughts obscures the Being's vision, and pretty soon the cloud, the mind, is all the person can see. This is how people get so caught up in their separate illusions (sometimes foolishly called "your reality").

The mind is what creates the illusion, the mind is the reason people believe they're separate from God. Now I'm sure there's some people who will read what I just said and have a automatic reaction, believing I'm saying the mind is "bad". There's nothing inherently wrong about the mind, in fact it's the mind that creates "good & bad", "right & wrong", those types of dualistic thinking are what the mind does best. If you believe the mind, or anything else for that matter, is "bad" or "wrong", you're actually just strengthening the mind.

The basic patterns of your mind were not really created by you. The mind and its ego are not the source of your individuality, quite the opposite. The core of the mind and ego were given to you by society, they're the things that make you the same as everybody else. They contain this superficial "coke or pepsi" kind of individuality, you get to define yourself based upon these extremely shallow things like political party or what job you have. If you display any real uniqueness, you're outside of society's box (the collective mind) and you'll be largely ignored or rejected.

Sometimes people talk about the "god mind", "higher mind", or "divine mind", to me those are all oxymorons. The mind is what's responsible for the illusion of separation, the mind is the illusion that there's something other than God. When God Is Present, there is no more mind. There's even a common term for what happens when Divine is revealed to you, "mind-blowing". The mind wants to be God, but the mind doesn't understand God. The mind gets burned when God is near, so the mind created this imitation of God. The mind created a "god" in the mind's image, a rather psychotic and bipolar entity that's supposed to be in control of the whole Universe. This is the religious "god", a pale reflection of the Real Thing. The Real God Is All There Is, everything working together flawlessly. The "god mind" is some separate entity that reflects the individuals desires for power and control.

So what is Consciousness? Well, who's the one that observes the thoughts? Who is there watching them, hmm? Really look, don't just read over this quickly. It's something you have to witness for yourself. If you're just believing, you're missing It. Who's there watching your thoughts?

...

I'm not kidding, really look at the mind, the thoughts, who is the Observer? Who is still there even when the mind is still? This is the whole point of meditation, to stop feeding into the mind and really connect with your Consciousness. It's also what is meant by being Present. What does this mean about who are you? When the mind and the ego are gone, you still remain. The nature of self is Consciousness, the nature of God is Consciousness. Consciousness Is Everything.

The mind likes to divide everything up into categories, to analyze and compare. The mind seeks knowledge of things the Being already understands intuitively. Ultimately, all the knowledge of the mind is still a limited view. You can't get to God through the mind, you cannot reach the Unlimited through what is limited. It's like using a stepladder to try to reach the Sun.

The mind isn't meant to usurp Consciousness, that's what creates unconsciousness, fear and suffering. The mind is like a servant who is holding its master hostage. The servant doesn't understand how to run the household, and it has created an absolute mess of the place. A society is built up around the internal mess, and the dysfunctional behavior is called "normal".

One of the major issues as to why people have so much trouble going beyond the mind is because their efforts actually feed into the mind. You try things like spiritual techniques, and you just replace one mental pattern with another, calling this "progress". It may be a slightly bigger mental box, but it's still not the freedom of real Consciousness. You can't use the mind to get to Consciousness, so despite the thousands of spiritual teachers and techniques, people still have a very difficult time seeing past their limited minds. It's not something you can read in a book, it takes a complete paradigm shift, a willingness to let go of everything you've ever believed. You don't really reach Consciousness, it's not someplace you get to, not something you do or achieve, It's Where You've Always Been. Love, and not the mind's imitation of Love which is really desire, but Unconditional Love, God's Love, that is the path back to Consciousness.

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Communing with Nature - The Galactic Free Press

IMG_4912.jpg?itok=d0MahNmu&width=350If you're feeling overwhelmed in your life, there's one thing I highly recommend, breathing. Deep, full, conscious and thankful breaths can do wonders to calm you down and get you grounded. If you're feeling anxious at all, pay attention to how you're breathing. Chances are it's short, shallow breaths, and breathing that way actually helps to feed into feelings of anxiousness. Slower, deeper breaths are highly recommended.

My next recommendation if you're feeling overwhelmed and you need to decompress is to go out into Nature. When you're surrounded by people who are constantly worried about things like money, jobs and other people, it's difficult to not take on some of the energy yourself. It's good to disconnect from all of that at least sometimes, and it certainly helps with finding your authentic self. You can then approach the human world from a much more balanced state, instead of being caught up in the middle of all the chaos.

Trees don't worry about paying taxes, though governments would probably tax them if they could. The whole human world, all the businesses, currencies, governments, and nations, they don't really exist out in Nature. The only way those belief systems can get out there is if you bring them in your own mind. If you can leave all that stuff behind, you will find that Nature is an incredibly peaceful and wondrous place. Something worth much more than what money can buy.

Those out of touch with Nature see it as being cruel, fickle and savage. I suspect this is partially to get rid of guilt for exploiting the Planet so much. For the ignorant people though, the ones who have no respect for Nature, it can be a dangerous place. Foolish people can get themselves killed without too much trouble. However, this does need to be put into context, as the human world is a far more dangerous place. You're much more likely to get killed by another person than a wild animal, and you're more likely to get killed in a car accident than an accident out in Nature. Like all fears, the fear of Nature is largely exaggerated.

For the grounded and respectful person, Nature is a very welcoming place. It's like being in the arms of a lover. There's many who over-exert themselves, who struggle and fight with Nature. If you find yourself doing this, relax, go easy on yourself, breathe deep, and be aware. If you wander around unconscious in Nature, you will get a wake up call sooner or later. The human world encourages unconsciousness, while Nature encourages Consciousness. Because of this, it can be incredibly helpful in rediscovering your own connection to the Divine.

 

The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/communing-nature

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Solitude Only Goes So Far - The Galactic Free Press

hands-269273_640.jpg?itok=uB5wHt6S&width=350I can understand the appeal of being alone, especially for the more spiritually oriented in our society. For years I didn't have anybody I could really talk to about what I was going through, so much of my time was spent walking through nature by myself. However, being alone so much never really felt "right", I always yearned for other people to interact with. I did have friends, but it was clear our paths were going in different directions, and being with them very much felt emotionally draining.

Before long I moved to the big city believing I could connect with more people there. Boy was I naive! There's a term, "urban solitude", which describes perfectly my experience in the city. You might think that more people together means more connection between them, but in the big city the opposite seems to be true. I watched as people went out of their way to avoid personal contact with each other. It was fascinating to see people make an effort to not even look at each other. You could wave and say "hi", but many people would react by looking down at the ground. All the people so busy trying to get someplace else that they're barely aware of where they are.

After a few years in the big city I moved to a very small town with a more spiritually oriented community. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the city. I connected with more people in a week there than I did the years I lived in the city. Sure, the smaller communities have their drama and gossip, but the personal connection between people is there and it's something very sacred.

Humans are social beings, and to really be Whole, you need personal relationships in your life. Not only that, but if we really want to start creating a New Earth, social interactions are essential. Changes aren't going to come from a whole bunch of isolated spiritual people trying to do things their own way. The changes we need the most are only going to come through people working together. The world we have at the moment is one that's been created largely through isolation and separation. Those things are some of the biggest issues we face, and more isolation is not going to help anybody.

What we need the most now is for people to come together out of Love, Joy and Equality. There's such an amazing opportunity for individual and collective growth through that. So long as people rely upon things like fear to connect them, such as the case with nationalism and war, society will remain ignorant. There's even spiritual teachers who promote isolation and separation, as if this is a way to find real peace in your life. Social development is very much part of the path back to Oneness, and sitting on the mountain top meditating all day can really halt your growth. If you're only at peace when you're alone, how peaceful are you really? It's easy to be at peace when there's nothing there to disturb you, anybody can do that, the challenge we face now is finding peace with each other.

People who rely upon solitude are really missing what Co-Creation means. It's such an incredibly powerful catalyst for change when two or more people get together and work towards a shared vision. This is a very rare thing at the moment, it's far more common that people rally behind some leader's vision, a vision that most of the people who spread it don't really have any direct influence upon. This happens frequently in spiritual communities, and it's really separation masquerading as unity. The ones who control the vision may even say everyone is equal, but the way it really works is that some are "more equal" than others.

I'd also like to talk about the limits of online interactions. While the internet is a very useful tool for interacting with others, it's also inherently limited in that respect. It's not a real substitute for live interaction with another human being. The tone of another's voice, their body language, their facial expression, so much of the subtleties and warmth that comes from personal interaction is lost when communicating over the computer. Not that I believe connecting with others over the internet is a bad thing, but it's not a replacement for real live personal connections.

For the lonely, I offer this advice: Seek and ye shall find. When you're by yourself, you can view it as an opportunity to learn to be happy with yourself. It's a very useful thing for your social development too, as emotionally needy people are not much fun to be around. It's really only when your confident and happy with who you are that you can have a truly healthy relationship with another.

 

The Galactic Free Press
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http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/solitude-only-goes-so-far

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