"I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through. Listen to this music.”
- Sufi poet, Hafiz
“Every soul on earth is a flute! Experience carves holes in us. It does this because we are human. And just like nature is eroded over time, we have holes carved in us. This is all so the breath of spirit can breathe through them and release our song. Let the holes be carved all the way through.”
- Mark Nepo
Dear Wise Women,
As we continue our journey together, I would like us to pause for a moment and remind ourselves of the sacredness of the work we are doing, and at the power of women’s circles.
“The fundamentals of spirituality connect us rather than separate us. When women come together and make a commitment to each other to be in a circle with a spiritual center, they are creating a vessel of healing and transformation for themselves, and vehicle for change in their world. The more circles there are, the easier others can form. At the same time, each circle adds to collective human consciousness.”
- Jean Shinoda Bolen
Wise Women, after witnessing the impact of our study over the past two weeks, I have decided to dedicate more time to the Power of Presence. This week’s teaching is inspired by what has been arising in our sharing circles, and in particular, a powerful insight from Mark Nepo that our dear wise woman Laurie brought to us:
“Presence re-establishes our worthiness”
This simple and profound statement has been an absolute game changer for me. As I wonder how presence re-establishes my worth, I am being gifted insights, ah-ha moments, and gems of awareness. The source of these gems is infinite and endless, and all we have to do to receive them is ask!
The biggest insight I have had (and the inspiration for the title of this Treasure Trove) came via a sensation rather than thought. When I allow myself to fully experience the magic of breathing, when I am present to breath and breath alone, I feel (if only for a fleeting moment) that I am completely worthy of this breath of life.
Could it be that this is how presence re-establishes our god-given birthright of worthiness? The worthiness that we lost somewhere along the way when we believed what we were told (or what we thought) and continued to do so through our mind’s incessant ability to replay and reinforce these beliefs?
Could it be that “Worthiness” is another word to describe “Oneness”? Could it be that our ability to detach from this moment, to be everywhere other than in in the Now, is what causes us to believe we are not worthy of being at One with the vibration of life?
I wonder. Will you wonder with me?
The following passage and exercise offers a way of looking at what it means to fully honour your life in every moment. As you hear the words, feel free to substitute the word God and Jesus with whatever word resonates the deepest with you (energy, source, spirit). Remember the actual words are secondary, the essence or feeling they evoke are primary.
“We come from a very ancient, human-based, natural, biological, universally experienced understanding of God. God’s eternal mystery cannot be captured or controlled, but only received and shared as freely as the breath itself—the thing we have done since the moment we were born and will one day cease to do in this body. God is as available and accessible as our breath itself. Jesus breathes the Spirit into us as the very air of life (see John 20:22)! Our job is simply to both receive and give this life-breath. We cannot only inhale, and we cannot only exhale. We must breathe in and out, accept and let go.
- Fr. Richard Rohr
AWAKENED DOING
Eckhart Tolle’s teachings around the principal of awakened doing align beautifully with Richard Rohr’s words and offer us practical insights on how to let live live through us, which means to align your self to the highest form of life energy in all moments, or as Hafiz so eloquently, to be the hole in a flute that Christ’s breath moves through.
“There are three ways in which consciousness can flow into what you do and thus through you into this world, three modalities in which you can align your life with the creative power of the universe. Modality means the underlying energy frequency that flows into what you do and connects your actions with the awakened consciousness that is emerging into this world. What you do will be dysfunctional and of the ego, unless it arises out of one of these three modalities. They may change during the course of a day, although one of them may be dominant during a certain stage in your life.
Each modality is appropriate to certain situations. The modalities of awakened doing are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Each one represents a certain vibrational frequency of consciousness. You need to be vigilant to make sure that one of them operates whenever you are engaged in doing anything at all–from the most simple task to the most complex. If you are not in the state of either acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others.”
Acceptance
“Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer. Through allowing, you become what you are: vast, spacious. You become whole. You are not a fragment anymore, which is how the ego perceives itself. Your true nature emerges, which is one with the nature of God.
Performing an action in the state of acceptance means you are at peace while you do it. That peace is a subtle energy vibration which then flows into what you do.
If you can neither enjoy or bring acceptance to what you do – stop. Otherwise, you are not taking responsibility for the only thing you can really take responsibility for, which also happens to be one thing that really matters: your state of consciousness.”
Enjoyment
“Joy is the dynamic aspect of Being. When the creative power of the universe becomes conscious of itself, it manifests as joy.
When you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it the quality of your life – increases dramatically.
Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you. To be more precise, what you are enjoying is not really the outward action but the inner dimension of consciousness that flows into the action. This is finding the joy of Being in what you are doing.“
Enthusiasm
“Enthusiasm means there is deep enjoyment in what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward.
Through enthusiasm you enter into full alignment with the outgoing creative principle of the universe, but without identifying with its creations, that is to say, without ego.
Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative energy, and all you have to do then is ‘ride the wave.”
- Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth”
Invocation:
“Life lives through me.”
Grace
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.
Dear Grace, let me be a vessel
for your love to live through.
- Patti Wardlaw