The American way of meditation is now firmly a part of our lifestyle, and millions of people who have taken up yoga and learned about mindfulness feel quite comfortable meditating. I’m saying “the American way,” because it took scientific research and the promise of improved health to convince the average person that meditation wasn’t mystical, in a society where mystical implies religion, or in this case Hinduism.

The acceptance of meditation has been a good thing, but I wonder if its true meaning has taken hold. The situation today feels much like it was thirty years ago, when being serious about meditation meant you were a committed Buddhist or otherwise found the time to devote hours a day to sitting in lotus position. Meditation still has a split personality, one side promising nice benefits like relaxation and lower stress levels, the other side requiring you to get serious about renouncing everyday life and its demands.

Is it possible to experience the clearest vibration our soul can achieve, while in our human form. Do we have the capacity to fully connect, such as in a Near Death Experience. Maybe we don’t need to die, to experience that magnitude of awareness. What if it’s as easy as our awareness slipping out of our body and returning to a state of Grace. When we are ready, we shift back to the human form.

I like to think we always have the capacity to experience our highest form. I imagine the state of Grace is free of fear and we are able to love ourselves and others and everything completely. I know Grace is always with us.

A young boy shared with me the age of his grandparents. He was surprised that his Great Grandmother outlived his Grand Father. He shared how those that cross over, watch their own funerals. The boy then began telling me about reincarnation. He shared how each of us have many lives. We were hiking through snow and bright sun, talking about reincarnation. I asked him if he has had past lives. His response was no. He believed he would certainly remember them. He thought if he had past lives, they would involve wars or fires. I am sure he has experienced many lives, possibly some as a great teacher. Our conversation will be long remembered by me and probably already life.

Like Sisyphus eternally pushing the boulder up the hill, we can spend many moments busily trying to manage our life. This two-part talk explores how we can awaken from our non-stop doing, including the incessant inner narrative, and discover the mystery, love and freedom that arises in Being.

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I’d like to share with you two bits of wisdom from one of my favorite saints, Anandamayi Ma.

For those of you who have been on our circuit together for years, you may have many pictures of her by now, because we usually hand out pictures of her. The reason I like these quotes is because they convey two different planes of consciousness, one of them in which she exists ‘in form’ and the other in which she’s ‘beyond form.’ In each of these, when she’s speaking, she’s speaking from that place at that moment, and it gives you a chance to hear, which is not so frequent, from a true ‘free’ being on different levels of consciousness.

So, when she is in the level of ‘form,’ she has millions of devotees and beings in her presence. For me, it was like being with a wild deer or fox or something like that, just an intimate, non-human connection, non-social.

Spiritual partnerships are partnerships between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. They are for intimate couples and anyone who intends to become emotionally aware, self-responsible, and inwardly secure.

Spiritual partners help one another recognize parts of their personalities that come from love– such as gratitude, patience, and caring – and cultivate them by acting on them consciously. They also help one another recognize parts of their personalities that come from fear -such as anger, jealousy, and righteousness -and challenge them by acting from loving parts of their personalities (such as patience) when frightened parts (such as impatience) are active.

This is a great story: Every month a disciple faithfully sent his master an account of his spiritual progress.

In the first month, he wrote, “I feel an expansion of consciousness and experience my oneness with the universe.” The master glanced at the note and threw it away. The following month, this is what he had to say: “I have finally discovered that the Divine is present in all things.” The master seemed disappointed. In his third letter, the disciple enthusiastically explained, “The mystery of the One and the Many has been revealed to my wondering gaze.” The master yawned. In his next letter, he said, “No one is born, no one lives, and no one dies for the self is not.” The master threw up his hands in despair.

After that a month passed by, then two, then five, then a whole year. The master thought it was time to remind his disciple of his duty to keep him informed of his spiritual progress, so he wrote to him. The disciple wrote back, “Who cares?” When the master read these words, a look of satisfaction spread over his face, and he said, “Thank you God, at last he’s got it.”

Most of us long to trust our goodness, but get caught in stories of deficiency and striving to affirm we’re ok. These talks look at the block to realizing the loving awareness that is our essence, and the practices that help us see this essential goodness – in ourselves, dear ones and in those we might habitually consider different or “other.” Both talks include reflections that can help us appreciate the basic goodness that lives through these precious, changing forms.

Think of some of the people you like and are drawn to you.

Now attempt to look at each of them as if you were seeing them for the first time, not allowing yourself to be influenced by your past knowledge or experience of them, whether good or bad.

Look for things in them that you may have missed because of familiarity, for familiarity breeds staleness, blindness and boredom. You cannot love what you cannot see afresh. You cannot love what you are not constantly discovering anew.

Anthony de Mello
from “The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of Anthony de Mello”  

I stepped out on my deck and was pulled into the moment of all that was taking place around me. It was the sounds that I connected to first. The squirrels talking loudly in their world. Our wind chime reacting to the breeze. Sea gulls chasing a much larger eagle through the sky. An ambulance too far away to hear, but I could see the flashing lights. It became obvious to me that we are surrounded by choices; choices of where to place our attention.

We can find ourselves fully experiencing the moment by accident, or by purposefully calling our attention to the moment. Sometimes we need courage. Other times we need healing to help us embrace awareness. I discovered my ability to fall into the moment by accident. Growing up I enjoyed sitting outside in the presence of animals. Nature and animals were one of the sweetest parts of my childhood. Both of these have helped me connect. They have both helped me heal. I have also learned that if we have suffering anywhere in the world, we all suffer.

Most of us long to trust our goodness, but get caught in stories of deficiency and striving to affirm we’re ok. These talks look at the block to realizing the loving awareness that is our essence, and the practices that help us see this essential goodness – in ourselves, dear ones and in those we might habitually consider different or “other.” Both talks include reflections that can help us appreciate the basic goodness that lives through these precious, changing forms.

“Saints are what they are, not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood makes it possible for them to admire everyone else.” -Thomas Merton