We begin our journey towards freedom from the ego and from the pain-body when we step into our True Selves.
Who are you?
”When asked this question, many people will quickly tell you who they are: their name, their occupation, their personal history, the shape or state of their body, and whatever else they identify with. Others may appear to be more evolved because they think of themselves as an immortal soul or divine spirit. But do they really know themselves, or have they just added some spiritual-sounding concepts to the content of their mind? Knowing yourself goes far deeper than the adoption of a set of ideas or beliefs. Spiritual ideas and beliefs may at best be helpful pointers, but in themselves they rarely have the power to dislodge the more firmly established core concepts of who you think you are, which are part of the conditioning of the human mind.
Knowing yourself deeply has nothing to do with whatever ideas are floating around in your mind. Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.
In the stillness of your presence, you can feel your own formless and timeless reality as the unmanifested life that animates your physical form.”
- Eckhart Tolle
I am not the perishable body, but the eternal Self.
- Ramana Maharshi
To know our True Selves is to breathe the consciousness of Presence into every moment and is the crux of all the teachings that I have shared and will continue to share. As you will discover, awakening to our True Selves is a continuous unfoldment and one in which we are well served with reminders and support.
I would now like to re-share my favourite parable with you. This powerful parable of The Two Birds was introduced to me by my beloved yoga teacher, Michelle. The metaphor of the two birds and the depth of the invitation has had a lasting impact on me. For those who received this before, I hope that, like me, it is a tale that you would benefit from hearing a thousand times over!
In “The Two Birds” Mooji brilliantly captures the essence of what it means to befriend our egos and our pain-bodies and into an awareness of our True Self.
THE TWO BIRDS
by Mooji
Some time ago, I saw a picture depicting a parable from the Bhagavad Gita. It showed two birds in a tree, and one of them was building a nest. This one is flying off collecting things, arranging the twigs—it’s active, doing many things.
Above this bird, on another branch, is a second bird. It looks identical to the first bird, but it’s not building anything. It is just observing. It’s not building a self-image out of its perceiving, and it’s not deeply interested in any aspect of what it sees. Its perceiving is happening quite spontaneously without effort or judgment. There’s a silence there, that feeling of Being without thought. Just looking.
This is a beautiful portrait of who we are.
These two birds are connected. The first bird represents our dynamic being, the self that is engaged in the world, in future and past, in growing. It is the aspect that is living life with the sense of my family, my children, my work, and so on. The second bird represents that conscious witnessing within us. It is the ability to observe life taking place and activities unfolding, but it is not actually doing anything. It is still within the same body, but it is not manipulating. It is not saying, “I hope this, and I fear that.” No, it is very still. It is simply there, and its seeing is panoramic. It sees not only the first bird, but also the wind in the trees, the sky—everything is observed with a kind of neutrality.
Initially the first bird is very identified with building the nest. It may not even be aware of the second bird. But as soon as it is able to be quiet, it becomes aware of the second bird, which is actually itself at a deeper inner level. When the first bird’s mind is synchronized with the second bird, the activities become much more gracious. There is a sense of a unity, a oneness. In that harmony, the work may still happen but without obsession, without fear, without the sense of needing to control things. It is simply happening because life compels this activity to happen. It is as though another power is helping the actions to take place.
The second bird represents the change of perspective from the mode of the person to the state of presence. When we are involved in the activities of life so deeply that it seems that the daily routine is all there is, then we are like this first bird, the nest builder, oblivious to our second bird position.
Come to the second bird position, to the one who is observing, and you will discover that the one who is busy building a life will slowly become more transparent, leaving only the functioning itself. The activities are happening anyway, beautifully, but the sense of doer-ship—which is the ego sense—will fade away. Activities are just happening; our self-image as a person is just happening, but our true Self is not a happening.
In fact, the TRUE SELF is a third position, which is not a bird, but the space within which both birds are arising and seen.
“The more you are willing to just let the world be something you’re aware of, the more it will let you be who you are – the awareness, the Self, the Soul.”
- Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul
As you become present and thereby total in what you do, your actions become charged with spiritual power. At first there may be no noticeable changes in what you do - only the how changes. Your primary purpose is now to enable consciousness to flow into what you do. The secondary purpose is whatever you want to achieve through the doing.”
- Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth”
On Grace…
I want nothing of you.
This means you can trust me.
Please do what I say.
Bow your head to the river of Consciousness.
Flowing rapids will sweep you clean.
Be swallowed whole by the Mystery.
Be thrown into love.
Drink the pure light of Self revealing Truth.
Why stay in the storm of the mind when you are blessed by Grace?
- from “Whispers of Grace” a poetry collection by Shani
Our Closing Prayer
Dear Grace,
Please walk with me today.
Please whisper divine wisdom in my ears,
Please reveal magic to my eyes,
Please touch my skin with life’s vibrant energy.
Divine Grace, I am open to unconditional love and I allow this love to:
Infuse my thoughts,
Prepare my words, and
Animate my movement.
Through my own free will, so be it.
- Patti Wardlaw