Title: LifeAspect

Gender: Male

Age: 57

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Chinese Sign: Water Dragon

Location: San Jose, CA

I am a SF Bay Area / Santa Cruz boomer who believed that life was a fluke by-product of complex electrochemical reactions that accidentally got started on this rock in space. Until I had some inexplicable experiences with psychedelic drugs in my late teens which I directly saw were more familiar and real than my dream life as who I thought I was. I have studied with many alternative teachings including Arica, Eckankar, many years of Reichian body work, New Thought Christianity, Non-Dual Vedanta, etc.

However, I got lost in samsara pretty good, with major detours for dysfunctional relationships, violation of others in ways subtle and not so subtle, focus on trying to succeed in business, etc. I always considered myself a “seeker” though, and maybe 5 years ago ran into Power of Now somewhat synchronously, which began a new deepening in my sadhana. I studied Lester Levenson's release technique / Sedona method, intensely studied Eckhart's A New Earth, joined a spiritual workgroup co-founded by Evelyn, called “Daring to Live an Authentic Life,” which introduced me to Byron Katie, and also to Adyashanti, who I discovered was teaching right in my backyard. This January I went to a retreat with Adya at Mount Madona Center, and woke up to an experience of the formless one life within me which I am presently able to consistently reaccess everytime I fall back into investing belief in my existence as something separate from That. So, “things” are pretty good for “me.” Now.

I also have an abiding interest in political “action,” and in deep politics, aka the real truth or “conspiracy theory,” and have had a foot in this loosely defined group of self-identified activists as well as one in the equally fuzzy world of spirituality / human potential. So, serving two masters…  As things have clarified for me in the last few months, it has felt more and more obvious that the world situation is a perfect reflection of the states of consciousness of the people of the world. I am getting it at a visceral level that when we begin to awaken, the states of affairs for humanity and for the precious chain of life that supports us will inevitably reharmonize itself effortlessly. That awakening is happening now.
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Below is a holiday greeting email that I sent out in December 2003, embodying ideas which were somewhat nebulous for me at the time but which, looking back were very indicative of the way my thinking and heart were moving. I am now quite clear that the ideas and sentiment expressed below are crucial to a new model of human experience….

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well, prospering, and ready for the year ahead. I don’t know if you may agree with my perspective, but I am seeing a challenging time ahead for all of us living on Earth today. One major factor, in my view, is the failing of the human social contract worldwide, driven by fear, of scarcity, of each other, of the unknown. It is apparent that as this failure unfolds, it coincides with spiraling corruption and epic greed within human institutions, and with something akin to constant low intensity warfare upon people everywhere.

Recently, I have been meditating on this common life situation a great deal, and it seems to me that there is no longer any way of fighting fire with fire in respect to this spiraling emotional violence. The students of war, struggling for the high ground throughout the world, are the best at their craft of human destruction that have ever existed, with an unimaginable arsenel at their disposal. To fight them is beyond possibility, and any improbable success will likely only create warriors more grim and indomitable. More than this, I think there is an actual possibility that thinking in terms of opposing or resisting the violence may feed it. As James Joyce said, from the lips of Stephen Daedelus “History is a nightmare from which I’m trying to awaken.” We are, with grace, witnessing a change in the consensus model of what a human being is, waking up together to a world where we no longer project deadly fear out upon each other. How the burgeoning tide of attacks can be turned outside of the model of action we all tend to understand and invest with “reality” is beyond the fevered attempts of our mental activity “inside the box.” But I believe we know in our hearts.

So, I am sharing with you at this time of spiritual focus and renewal an affirmation I have been working with recently. I am repeating this every morning, for 15 minutes or so, hearing the words in my mind and trying to penetrate beyond them to the seed thought they contain. Perhaps you will consider adopting some version of this practice as we work together to wake up. Perhaps you’ll be able to improve on it, and share your improvements with others. A great American sage named Lester Levinson discovered what may be a key truth regarding human creativity - that there is an energetic component to our felt/thought wholeness in each moment, and that we seem to be stuck in a mode of clenching, holding onto that energy so that it drives pathological mental processes and behavior. He discovered that we can learn to release this energy, like learning to use and strengthen a muscle. By thinking about anything we are holding energy with, the energy comes up to be released, is felt in the heart and abdomen, and if you, for instance, imagine that it is like water compressed deep underground and you are putting a tube into it and uncapping the tube to let it go “without engaging your mind,” the complex driven by the stuck energy can begin to dissolve. I have developed a new approach to affirmation in which I combine this release process with the mental focus. As the feelings come up during the subvocalization of the verbal formula, I let them go. I would be interested to hear if this approach has any practical use for others. So, here is my affirmation:

I release, I forgive, I hold blameless, I wish well, and I pray for
all invasive, invidious, judgemental, fear-driven, ego obsessed or threatening beings,
including me,
and so am free from any attack or trespass.

May this help you to clear an inviolate space of peace within your heart now and throughout the times to come.

Peace,
Bruce

My “other” blog can be seen at http://www.realtruth.ws

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