Jesus said through Pamela Kribbe recently that there were three ways we could express an emotion like anger – to project it, to suppress it, and to be aware of it. I’ve long thought this was the case but I haven’t heard anyone of Jesus’ wisdom actually state the matter.

As an adherent of the awareness path, I’d like to review some of the points he made because it actually offers insight into the approach to growth and evolution through consciousness.

Jesus said that “the third way [to be with an emotion like anger] is to allow it – to let it be and to transcend it. That is what consciousness does. The consciousness of which I speak does not judge – it is a state of being.” (1)

He tells us that this “way of observation … is at the same time creative.”

“You have to realize that consciousness is something very powerful. It is much more than a passive registering of an emotion – consciousness is an intense creative force.”

Well, this is something only a highly-advanced soul like he could know. What happens if we observe an emotion?

“What then happens to you? Consciousness is not something static; things do not remain as they are. You will notice that if you do not nourish the energy of the emotion or of your judgment about it, they will gradually dissipate. In other words, your equilibrium becomes stronger; your basic feeling becomes more one of peace and joy.”

The emotions dissipate if we observe them; they persist if we give them our energy by acting them out, resisting them, etc. To do these latter acts is to put fuel on the fire. To simply observe them is to deprive the fire of fuel.

In fact nothing ever stays unless we put effort into it staying. Not only does it never stay, but, if we simply experience the emotions through, they pull up all their roots and branches and the whole thing departs. It’s only if we energize them by acting on them that the roots and branches grow stronger and longer. He says:

“That is consciousness – this is clarity of mind. And in this way you bring to rest the demons in your life: the fear, the anger, the mistrust. You give them strength when you identify with them, or if you fight them with judgement – either way, you nurture them.”

He then says something that I’ve long suspected but never heard described. If we act out the extremes of emotion, we’re pulled away from our center of consciousness,  but if we abide in the center, we’re drawn into consciousness. That’s the exit point for us.

“So you are being drawn in two ways and pulled away from consciousness, the exit I talked about in the beginning: the exit that is the road to inner peace. Your usual ways of dealing with emotions draw you away from that center point, as it were, away from that consciousness, and yet this is the only way out.”

So equanimity, balance, tranquillity – all ways of describing abiding in the center – is the exit point to inner peace.

“The only way to transcend them,” he says, is “simply to let them be.”  I don’t think we’re used to thinking in this way. We’re used to hustle and bustle, doing or accomplishing something.  We’re used to things having a beginning, a middle and an end.

But the God that we’re here in life to realize has no beginning or end, just a constant middle. And that middle is best found in the center, where lies beingness, consciousness. It’s a foreign land to most of us but it’s the new found land we have to explore if we want to find what Jesus called “the exit” to peace.

Consciousness as an exit handles so many unwanted conditions in life. To be simply conscious of an upset, for instance, causes it to lift. That’s valuable knowledge. If we really mined it, we wouldn’t need psychiatrists, pain remedies, diversion.

“Whatever happens, it must be allowed to do everything it wants to do, and to tell you what it feels. You are the awareness that looks and says, ‘Yes, I want to see you; I want to hear your story, express it.’ ‘Tell me your story, because it is your truth; it might not be theTruth, but I want to hear your story.’

“Experience your emotions that way and do not condemn them. Let them come to speak with you. Treat them with the mildness of a wise old person, and observe what that child or animal brings.”

Welcome the uninvited guest, Rumi would say. Listen to it. Observe what it brings. Make friends with all our emotions. If we really watch them closely and allow ourselves to experience them, they turn out to be merely different shapes and flavors of experience, rather than, say, good and bad.

“Awareness transforms – it is the major instrument for change, yet at the same time, it wants to change nothing. Awareness says, “Yes – yes to what is!” It is receptive and accepting of all that is there, and this changes everything, because it sets you free.”

Absolutely. Change does not transform. It merely plasters one thing on top of another. But awareness transforms. It allows whatever is occurring to make its statement and leave. Trying to push it out the door will not work. Trying to block its access will not work. But simply welcoming it, experiencing it and allowing it to go will work.

“You are now free – no longer at the mercy of your emotions or your judgment of them. By letting them be, they lose their control over you. Of course, it still happens occasionally that you are overcome by your emotions and your prejudice – this is to be human. …

“You can always return to the exit, back to the peace, by not fighting with yourself. Observe what is there, and make no mistake: not to be drawn in is a great strength. That is the power of true spirituality. True spirituality is not morality – it is a way of being.”

So well said. The new gospel of Jesus. He who said “the truth shall make you free” has now said “the way to transform our emotions is to let them be.”

Footnotes

(1) All quotes from “Jeshua:  The Third Way,” by Pamela Kribbe, July 4, 2012, at http://jeshua.net/.