The New Dream: Heaven On Earth

The New Dream: Heaven On Earth

 
I WANT YOU TO FORGET EVERYTHING you have learned in your whole life. This is the beginning of a new understanding, a new dream.The dream you are living is your creation. It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time. You have the …

I WANT YOU TO FORGET EVERYTHING you have learned in your whole life. This is the beginning of a new understanding, a new dream.

The dream you are living is your creation. It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time. You have the power to create hell, and you have the power to create heaven. Why not dream a different dream? Why not use your mind, your imagination, and your emotions to dream heaven? Just use your imagination and a tremendous thing will happen. Imagine that you have the ability to see the world with different eyes, you see the world around you in a different way.

Close your eyes now, and then open them and look outside.

What you will see is love coming out of the trees, love coming out of the sky, love coming out of the light. You will perceive love from everything around you. This is the state of bliss. You perceive love directly from everything, including yourself and other humans. Even when humans are sad or angry, behind these feelings, you can see that they are also sending love.

Using your imagination and your new eyes of perception, I want you to see yourself living a new life, a new dream, a life where you don’t need justify your existence and you are free to be who you really are.

Imagine that you have permission to be happy to and to really enjoy your life. Your life is free of conflict with yourself and with others.

Imagine living your life without fear of expressing your dreams. You know what you want, what you don’t want, and when you want it. You are free to change your life the way you really you want to. You are not afraid to ask for what you need, to say yes or no to anything or anyone.

Imagine living your life without the fear of being judged by others You no longer rule your behaviour according to what others may think about you. You are no longer responsible for anyone’s opinion. You have no need to control anyone, and no one controls you either.

Imagine living your life without judging others. You can easily forgive others and let go of any judgements that you have. You don’ have the need to be right, and you don’t need to make anyone else wrong. You respect yourself and everyone else, and they respect you in return.

Imagine living without the fear of loving and not being loved. You are no longer afraid to be rejected, and you don’t have the need to be accepted. You can say “I love you” with no shame or justification. You can walk in the world with your heart completely open, and not be afraid to be hurt.

Imagine living your life without being afraid to take a risk and to explore life. You are not afraid to lose anything. You are not afraid to be alive in the world, and you are not afraid to die.

Imagine that you love yourself just the way you are. You love your body just the way it is, and you love your emotions just the way they are. You know that you are perfect just as you are.

The reason I ask you to imagine these things is because they are all entirely possible! You can live in the state of grace, the state of bliss, the dream of heaven. But in order to experience this dream, you must first understand what it is.

Only love has the ability to put you in that state of bliss. Being in bliss is like being in love. Being in love is like being in bliss. You are floating in the clouds. You are perceiving love wherever you go. It is entirely possible to live this way all the time. It is possible because others have done it and they are no different from you. They live in bliss because they have changed their agreements and are dreaming a different dream.

Once you feel what it means to live in a state of bliss, you will love it. You will know that heaven on earth is truth - that heaven truly exists. Once you know that heaven exists, once you know it is possible to stay there, it’s up to you to make the effort to do it. Two thousand years ago, Jesus told us about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of love, but hardly anyone was ready to hear this. They said “What are you talking about; I don’t feel the peace that you have.” You don’t have to do this. Just imagine that his message of love is possible and you will find that it is yours.

The world is very beautiful and very wonderful. Life can be very easy when love is your way of life. You can be loving all the time. This is your choice. You may not have a reason to love, but you can love because love makes you so happy. Love in action produces happiness. Love will give you inner peace. It will change your perception of everything.

You can see everything with the eyes of love. You can be aware that there is love all around you. When you live this way, there is no longer a fog in your mind. The mitote has gone on permanent vacation. This is what humans have been seeking for centuries. For thousands of years we have been searching for happiness. Happiness is the lost paradise. Humans have worked so hard to reach this point, and this is part of the evolution of the mind. This is the future of humanity.

This way of life is possible, and it’s in your hands. Moses called it the Promised Land, Buddha called it Nirvana, Jesus called it Heaven, and the Toltecs call it a New Dream.

Unfortunately, your identity is mixed with the dream of the planet. All of your beliefs and agreements are there in the fog. You feel the presence of the parasite and believe it is you. This makes it difficult to let go - to release the parasite and create the space to experience love. You are attached to the Judge, attached to the Victim. Suffering makes you feel safe because you know it so well.

But there is really no reason to suffer. The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer. If you look at your life you will find many excuses to suffer, but a good reason to suffer you will not find. The same is true for happiness. The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering.

Maybe we cannot escape the destiny of the human, but we have a choice: to suffer our destiny or to enjoy our destiny. To suffer, or to love and be happy. To live in hell, or to live in heaven. My choice is to live in heaven. What is yours?

 

A SUMMARY OF THE THREE MASTERIES AND FOUR AGREEMENTS…

The Toltec created THREE MASTERIES and FOUR AGREEMENTS to guide us out of suffering and return us to our true nature: happiness, freedom, and love.

THE THREE MASTERIES:

  1. THE MASTERY OF AWARENESS
    This mastery is the first step towards personal freedom, because we cannot be free if we don’t know what we are, where we are, or what kind of freedom we are looking for. In this mastery, we become aware of the fog that is in our mind. The Mastery of Awareness can also be called the Mastery of Truth.

  2. THE MASTERY OF TRANSFORMATION
    The goal of the second mastery is to put order into the chaos of all the voices in our mind, to face our fears, to transform our fears, and to find the freedom to live our own life instead of the life of the belief system. The Four Agreements are a summary of the Mastery of Transformation.

  3. THE MASTERY OF LOVE
    The result of the first two masteries is the third mastery, The Mastery of Love, or The Mastery of Intent. From the Toltec perspective, love or intent is that part of life that makes the transformation of energy possible. It is Life itself; it is unconditional love. Everything is made with love because everything comes from God or Life. When we master love, we master the dream of our live, and when all three masteries are accomplished, we reclaim our divinity and become one with God.


THE FOUR AGREEMENTS:

#1 Be Impeccable With Your Word

Being impeccable is not going against yourself. When you are impeccable, you take responsibility for your actions, but you do not judge or blame yourself.

Being impeccable with your word is the correct use of your energy; it means to use your energy in the direction of truth and love for yourself.

Being impeccable with your word makes you immune from anyone putting a spell on you as your mind is no longer fertile ground for negative ideas.

A true Story of awareness and transformation…using the word to judge:

“The first agreement made me realize how much time I spend either judging myself or judging someone else. I live my life in total judgement! I am so determined to reclaim the part of my mind that is simply running a program, that I have begun to track my thoughts by setting the alarm on my watch to go off every twenty minutes. Each time I hear the alarm, I take note of where my thoughts are: Am I judging? I keep a notebook to recored my thoughts throughout the day.

At the end of the day, I look at the list of thoughts and ask myself, “Is this what I want to be thinking?” This simple technique makes me aware of my thoughts and helps me to change the way I use my word. It has also helped me to see if the thoughts I am thinking are truly my own or if they are simply the unconscious program that is running.”


#2 Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others say and do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream, in their own mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in.

You are never responsible for the actions of others; you are only responsible for you. When you truly understand this, and refuse to take things personally, you can hardly be hurt by the careless comments or actions of others.

As you make a habit of not taking anything personally, you won’t need to place your trust in what others do and say. You will only need to trust yourself to make responsible choices.

A true Story of awareness and transformation…the Judge and the Victim at work:

“I had a boss at work who was very judgemental. No matter what I did, she would find fault with it and make a point of correcting me in a very cynical way. I really struggled with this. I would go to work and ask myself, “Why am I letting myself be abused this way?”

I was ready to quit my job when I read The Four Agreements. What struck me the most was the term “spiritual warrior,” and “the discipline to be ourselves, no matter what.” I decided to use the situation to become a better “warrior,” and began by making a commitment to always do my best.

Over the next couple of months, I discovered that I was constantly afraid of being judged. This actually allowed my boss to be judgemental; I was playing the role of the Victim, and she was playing the role of the Judge. I continued to react to her judgments, and in some ways it was more difficult because I was so aware of my reactions. I would get angry, or feel betrayed whenever she criticized my work.

One day my boss said something to me and the dream suddenly shattered. What I saw was a woman who was fiercely critical of herself. When I finally understood that she was living in her own dream, and I was living in mine, everything shifted for me. In her dream, her own self-judgments caused her to be judgmental toward me, but it had nothing to do with me. In that moment, I felt compassion for her, and I never took anything she said personally.

I worked at this office for another year and even though my boss could still be judgemental, she started to change. She began to compliment me on my work! By having compassion for her Judge and putting my own Victim to rest, our relationship was transformed All I had to do was change my agreements!”


#3 Don’t Make Assumptions

Have the courage to ask questions until you are clear as you can be, and even then do not assume you know all there is to know about a given situation.

Find your voice to ask for what you want. Everybody has the right to tell you no or yes, but you always have the right to ask. Likewise, everybody has the right to ask you, and you have the right to say yes or no.

A true Story of awareness and transformation…making assumptions about a handicap:

“I was born with no forearms and small hands that come out just below my elbows. For me, learning not to take things personally, and not to make assumptions was a revolution in my life.

I was raised to believe that my physical disabilities don’t have to limit me, but it wasn’t until I read The Four Agreements that I saw how many choices I had made based on assumptions and taking what other people said or did personally.

I had been struggling with career and money issues for a long time, living off my disability cheque and going to college. I asked myself, “If I do not make the assumption that I am limited in any way, what would I want to do?” I knew in my heart that I wanted to be financially independent, but I had always assumed this was impossible. Now I am studying to be an accountant. I have stopped taking other people’s beliefs about having a disability personally. I know that is their dream. My dream is one of unlimited potential. I used to make the assumption that many doors were closed for me. Now I do my best in each moment, with no expectation of being rejected.”


#4 Always Do Your Best

Always do your best means to fully honour your life in every moment.

If you break an agreement, begin again tomorrow, and again the next day. Do not be concerned about the future; keep your attention on today, and stay in the present moment. Always do your best to keep these agreements, and soon it will be easy for you.

 

“That was then. This is now.

You can always connect with your true nature at any time and be free of everything that went before.”

- Chogyam Trungpa

 

A true Story of awareness and transformation…no guilt or blame

Always doing my best has helped me to keep the Judge at bay. All I have to do is ask myself: “Was that really my best effort?” If the answer is yes, there’s not a lot the Judge can say. My Judge is harsh, but even my Judge knows that a person can only do her best. If I make mistakes, I do my best to correct them, and if I do my best, then I have fewer mistakes to correct.


THE FIFTH AGREEMENT: BE SKEPTICAL….BUT LEARN TO LISTEN

Don’t believe yourself or anybody else. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind words, and you will understand the real message.

IN THE FOUR AGREEMENTS, don Miguel Ruiz revealed how the process of our education, or “domestication,” can make us forget the wisdom we were born with. Throughout our lives, we make many agreements that go against ourselves and create needless suffering. The Four Agreements help us to break these self-limiting agreements and replace them with agreements that bring us personal freedom, happiness, and love.

Now don Miguel Ruiz joins his son don Jose Ruiz to offer a fresh perspective on The Four Agreements, and a powerful new agreement for transforming our lives into our personal heaven: the fifth agreement. THE FIFTH AGREEMENT takes us to a deeper level of awareness of the power of the Self, and returns us to the authenticity we were born with. In this compelling sequel to the book that has changed the lives of millions of people around the world, we are reminded of the greatest gift we can give ourselves: the freedom to be who we really are.

 
Screen+Shot+2019-06-07+at+9.34.38+AM.jpg
 

OUR CLOSING MEDITATION

 
Today is a very special day. Today we open our hearts to love again so that we can tell each other “I love you,” without any fear, and really mean it. Today, we offer ourselves to you. Come to us, use our voices, use our eyes, use our hands, and use…

Today is a very special day. Today we open our hearts to love again so that we can tell each other “I love you,” without any fear, and really mean it. Today, we offer ourselves to you. Come to us, use our voices, use our eyes, use our hands, and use our hearts to share ourselves in a communion of love with everyone. Today, Creator, help us to be just like you are. Thank you for everything that we receive this day, especially for the freedom to be who we really are. Amen.