Gratitude! However just catching on to immediate offerings does make me wonder what has slipped past that I missed. On the other hand, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I’ve not missed anything. I’m now standing on the edge of creation. I intend to remain in receiving mode this day (at least).
I hear this, Elizabeth. And "receiving mode" is a real blessing - it is a real space of gratitude for me in which I can remember that I don't have to do anything - in fact, salvation is not a doing at all. Thank you for reminding me of this - and articulating it so clearly - I'm very grateful. 🙏🙏
"We just have to want to find ourselves more than we want to remain lost... Most of us are happy to be lost. Most of us are happy with scraps of joy and fleeting moments of peace." This resonates but I could never put it into words. This I found very powerful. Thank you!
You're welcome, Heidi. Thank you for reading and sharing. Wanting to accept less than total happiness has been a big theme in my healing - I often pretend the crumbs are sufficient when they're not. I've really had to learn how to own my desire to know God and Love and to show up for what shows up when I do own it.
Dear Sean, I love this take on the changing season. I just traveled from Iowa to Utah and last evening drove down to New Mexico and followed the “end of October”, in all it’s forms, in these places as I went.
I love that... (the landscape is) “our shared heart revealing itself in form”. Thank you for your lens on my experience... in thinking we think our suffering is real, “We deny our agency, our creativity and our potential for love”. I will be re-reading this in the days to come and letting the coexistence sink in further. So grateful for your connection with us!
My heart is alive and singing after reading your article. Joy is arising with the words YES,YES, YES ! I have no idea what that means, and don’t care, all I know is what you wrote struck a note of Truth. It is as if you answered a deep question I have been snuggling with.
My life feels “stuck, dead”, yet nothing is wrong, everything feels meaningless, everything I give value to doesn't do it anymore. After reading your article I realize everything is absolutely perfect, Truth is revealing itself.
The words that touched me deeply were” Here is my answer, the best I have right now: you have to go to the well. You have to climb the mountain and pray all night at the summit. You have to risk the desert and go lampless into the soul's great darkness.”
You're welcome, Glenda. I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad the post was helpful. "Nothing is wrong, everything is perfect" is a hard lesson to hear but deep down we know the truth of it and when that bell rings in us, the echoes circle the world and flow into the cosmos. It's a lovely feeling and I'm grateful when I can be on either end of it. Thank you so much for sharing and connecting with me - it means more than I can say 🙏🙏
Thank you Yihsing, and you're welcome. My promise is to not let go - and my faith is that when I do let go, that you and everyone else will patiently wait while I figure out how to reach you again. It's a delicate journey with a lot of stops and starts and I could not do it - any of it - without you. Thank you for being here and being so clear. I am so grateful 🙏🙏
Thank you, Sean, for your promise, and please receive ours to you that we will not walk alone without you no matter how long we have to wait. Just as you would patiently wait for us however long and far we wander away.
There is something so lovely in your words and so hard to fully articulate. Hey, that sounds like Truth doesn't it. All I know is that, somehow, I felt myself on a hillside where you are or were before writing this, relishing the beauty of the Fall landscape, the Autumn air . . . even also in the company of my dear, dear Emily Dickinson . . . all of us together, all of us one in Love and Forgiveness . . . none of us needing to explain any further that Peace passing my understanding.
Thank you Dan - I appreciate that very much - as you know, our connection in and through language is always close to Divine. Dickinson has been such a helpful companion over the years - her courage and intensity and wild intelligence. Your comment reminded me of her early poem "A Lady red," especially the last lines:
And yet, how still the Landscape stands!
How nonchalant the Hedge!
As if the “Resurrection”
Were nothing very strange!
Thank you for reading and being here and for connecting with me, Dan. I'm very grateful 🙏🙏
Thanks for sharing Michael - I'm glad you stumbled here, too. Stumbling is one of the things I do best, and somehow I manage to find my way, step by step, with good folks who won't let me fall. I'm very grateful 🙏🙏
Quick note to say I love your essay today. Love it! Love ACIM. Love Advaita, aka The Direct Path, which I know about almost solely via Rupert Spira and his teacher, Francis Lucille. I have stuff to say in regard to your essays, but I was excited about the topic and read them too fast. Now,I want to read both of your essays slowly and savor-ing-ly. Many thanks, Sean. p.s. Love (the landscape is) “our shared heart revealing itself in form."
Thank you Nancy! I hope you are well. I've been really blessed in this life to have spent most of it in the same couple of small towns and so landscape is very intimate and familiar - truly, family-like - and as I get older I realize that the beauty and meaning I perceive in it cannot be held apart from others - the world is our construction, ongoing, and the work is create in love rather than fear. Thank you for being here and being one of my teachers - I'm so grateful 🙏🙏
Hi Sean, this incredible note from you was like a tuning fork, vibrating my entire being. I have been exploring other approaches which have pointed to “I Am”. Though helpful, I find myself walking away from hours previously spent reading the Course, watching hours of spiritual YouTube, and the like. Instead, I am delving into stillness. I don't know if I have found that upon which “I Am” depends, but I have let go of any concepts and am looking at “nothing”. But I feel like nothing is everything! I don’t even know if this makes sense except I feel like I don’t have to ask “why” anymore. Instead “why not?” arises.
Thank you, Susan. I do think part of the insight is realizing that even the structure of is/is not is a limitation and probably not actually present in reality - it's more of a human construct. I know at times I feel like I'm in a fun house or a hall of mirrors and the only thing that helps is throwing up my hands and no longer trying so damn hard.
I don't know if you're familiar with David Carse's work - I refer to him sometimes but he's pretty hard to find. He really embraces the nihilism of nonduality, the "there's nowhere to go and nothing to learn" aspect. I think often on these words from his book "Perfect Brilliant Stillness."
It can be asked, What is prior to Being?
'What' lets Being be?
As it is prior to Being, this 'what' is not.
Here is Void, Nothingness, no-thing-ness.
Prior to Being, 'it' lets Being be:
That in which Being is,
Plenum, the fullness of no-thing-ness
out of which, in which, as which
Being (and hence all beingness) arises.
The paths of mysticism, bhakti and jnana
join here and end here.
All paths can lead this far and no further.
'Being' and 'Nothing' are the last concepts,
and the last experiences, available to us (386).
That is not precisely the course's take on nonduality, nor is it mine, but I do think there is something to be said for reaching the natural limits of inquiry and learning.
I'm glad you're here, Susan. I appreciate the chance to think out loud with you. And I'm sorry I am getting to this comment late :) It's been a busy fall.
Sean, thank you for taking the time to respond with such understanding. You are a gem. I have read some of David Carse but had quite forgotten about his writing! If I may quote him: "Before awakening, chop wood, carry water. After awakening, chop wood, carry water." Chopping wood and carrying water are the normal, basic, necessary, everyday occupations in the simple agrarian society where this saying originated. The point is simply that things seem to carry on pretty much as before. Life goes on. Within, there is Understanding of What Is, where before there was the dream state. But from without, the organism continues its appointed rounds. Why not? (How perfect) :)
Gratitude! However just catching on to immediate offerings does make me wonder what has slipped past that I missed. On the other hand, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I’ve not missed anything. I’m now standing on the edge of creation. I intend to remain in receiving mode this day (at least).
I hear this, Elizabeth. And "receiving mode" is a real blessing - it is a real space of gratitude for me in which I can remember that I don't have to do anything - in fact, salvation is not a doing at all. Thank you for reminding me of this - and articulating it so clearly - I'm very grateful. 🙏🙏
~ Sean
"We just have to want to find ourselves more than we want to remain lost... Most of us are happy to be lost. Most of us are happy with scraps of joy and fleeting moments of peace." This resonates but I could never put it into words. This I found very powerful. Thank you!
You're welcome, Heidi. Thank you for reading and sharing. Wanting to accept less than total happiness has been a big theme in my healing - I often pretend the crumbs are sufficient when they're not. I've really had to learn how to own my desire to know God and Love and to show up for what shows up when I do own it.
~ Sean
Dear Sean, I love this take on the changing season. I just traveled from Iowa to Utah and last evening drove down to New Mexico and followed the “end of October”, in all it’s forms, in these places as I went.
I love that... (the landscape is) “our shared heart revealing itself in form”. Thank you for your lens on my experience... in thinking we think our suffering is real, “We deny our agency, our creativity and our potential for love”. I will be re-reading this in the days to come and letting the coexistence sink in further. So grateful for your connection with us!
My heart is alive and singing after reading your article. Joy is arising with the words YES,YES, YES ! I have no idea what that means, and don’t care, all I know is what you wrote struck a note of Truth. It is as if you answered a deep question I have been snuggling with.
My life feels “stuck, dead”, yet nothing is wrong, everything feels meaningless, everything I give value to doesn't do it anymore. After reading your article I realize everything is absolutely perfect, Truth is revealing itself.
The words that touched me deeply were” Here is my answer, the best I have right now: you have to go to the well. You have to climb the mountain and pray all night at the summit. You have to risk the desert and go lampless into the soul's great darkness.”
Thank you Sean, 🙏🙏🙏
You're welcome, Glenda. I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad the post was helpful. "Nothing is wrong, everything is perfect" is a hard lesson to hear but deep down we know the truth of it and when that bell rings in us, the echoes circle the world and flow into the cosmos. It's a lovely feeling and I'm grateful when I can be on either end of it. Thank you so much for sharing and connecting with me - it means more than I can say 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Thank you for not stopping sharing with us. It feels like you will not let go of your hands holding onto ours.
Thank you Yihsing, and you're welcome. My promise is to not let go - and my faith is that when I do let go, that you and everyone else will patiently wait while I figure out how to reach you again. It's a delicate journey with a lot of stops and starts and I could not do it - any of it - without you. Thank you for being here and being so clear. I am so grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Thank you, Sean, for your promise, and please receive ours to you that we will not walk alone without you no matter how long we have to wait. Just as you would patiently wait for us however long and far we wander away.
🙏🙏
Damn you’re good at this observing thing!
Love You❣️
Thank you Annie - love right back - thank you for being here 🙏🙏
~ Sean
There is something so lovely in your words and so hard to fully articulate. Hey, that sounds like Truth doesn't it. All I know is that, somehow, I felt myself on a hillside where you are or were before writing this, relishing the beauty of the Fall landscape, the Autumn air . . . even also in the company of my dear, dear Emily Dickinson . . . all of us together, all of us one in Love and Forgiveness . . . none of us needing to explain any further that Peace passing my understanding.
Thank you Dan - I appreciate that very much - as you know, our connection in and through language is always close to Divine. Dickinson has been such a helpful companion over the years - her courage and intensity and wild intelligence. Your comment reminded me of her early poem "A Lady red," especially the last lines:
And yet, how still the Landscape stands!
How nonchalant the Hedge!
As if the “Resurrection”
Were nothing very strange!
Thank you for reading and being here and for connecting with me, Dan. I'm very grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
I've enjoyed your posts and am glad I stumbled on your writing.
Thanks for sharing Michael - I'm glad you stumbled here, too. Stumbling is one of the things I do best, and somehow I manage to find my way, step by step, with good folks who won't let me fall. I'm very grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
This message came at the perfect time for me. Struggling with the “both” and my pesky habit of “forgetting”. Thank you! 🙏
You're welcome, Angela - it's so nice when the Holy Spirit uses us to make ends meet 🙏🙏 Thanks for reading and sharing. I'm grateful you're here.
~ Sean
So lovely Sean, thank you 🪷☘️
Thank you, Tricia - I appreciate that. Hope all is well on your end!
~ Sean
Thank you Sean! This was a big one for me. Very clear👍🙏
You are welcome - thank you for being here 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Quick note to say I love your essay today. Love it! Love ACIM. Love Advaita, aka The Direct Path, which I know about almost solely via Rupert Spira and his teacher, Francis Lucille. I have stuff to say in regard to your essays, but I was excited about the topic and read them too fast. Now,I want to read both of your essays slowly and savor-ing-ly. Many thanks, Sean. p.s. Love (the landscape is) “our shared heart revealing itself in form."
Thank you Nancy! I hope you are well. I've been really blessed in this life to have spent most of it in the same couple of small towns and so landscape is very intimate and familiar - truly, family-like - and as I get older I realize that the beauty and meaning I perceive in it cannot be held apart from others - the world is our construction, ongoing, and the work is create in love rather than fear. Thank you for being here and being one of my teachers - I'm so grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
I'm glad you wrote this article. Such gems in here. Thank you for your love and generosity 🙏🏼
You are welcome, Gisele! Thank you for being here and sharing - I'm very grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Hi Sean, this incredible note from you was like a tuning fork, vibrating my entire being. I have been exploring other approaches which have pointed to “I Am”. Though helpful, I find myself walking away from hours previously spent reading the Course, watching hours of spiritual YouTube, and the like. Instead, I am delving into stillness. I don't know if I have found that upon which “I Am” depends, but I have let go of any concepts and am looking at “nothing”. But I feel like nothing is everything! I don’t even know if this makes sense except I feel like I don’t have to ask “why” anymore. Instead “why not?” arises.
Thank you, Susan. I do think part of the insight is realizing that even the structure of is/is not is a limitation and probably not actually present in reality - it's more of a human construct. I know at times I feel like I'm in a fun house or a hall of mirrors and the only thing that helps is throwing up my hands and no longer trying so damn hard.
I don't know if you're familiar with David Carse's work - I refer to him sometimes but he's pretty hard to find. He really embraces the nihilism of nonduality, the "there's nowhere to go and nothing to learn" aspect. I think often on these words from his book "Perfect Brilliant Stillness."
It can be asked, What is prior to Being?
'What' lets Being be?
As it is prior to Being, this 'what' is not.
Here is Void, Nothingness, no-thing-ness.
Prior to Being, 'it' lets Being be:
That in which Being is,
Plenum, the fullness of no-thing-ness
out of which, in which, as which
Being (and hence all beingness) arises.
The paths of mysticism, bhakti and jnana
join here and end here.
All paths can lead this far and no further.
'Being' and 'Nothing' are the last concepts,
and the last experiences, available to us (386).
That is not precisely the course's take on nonduality, nor is it mine, but I do think there is something to be said for reaching the natural limits of inquiry and learning.
I'm glad you're here, Susan. I appreciate the chance to think out loud with you. And I'm sorry I am getting to this comment late :) It's been a busy fall.
~ Sean
Sean, thank you for taking the time to respond with such understanding. You are a gem. I have read some of David Carse but had quite forgotten about his writing! If I may quote him: "Before awakening, chop wood, carry water. After awakening, chop wood, carry water." Chopping wood and carrying water are the normal, basic, necessary, everyday occupations in the simple agrarian society where this saying originated. The point is simply that things seem to carry on pretty much as before. Life goes on. Within, there is Understanding of What Is, where before there was the dream state. But from without, the organism continues its appointed rounds. Why not? (How perfect) :)
🙏🙏
Great read, Sean, well done!